For those who follow the raging spread of anti-government rebellions that is currently shaking Middle East's oldest dictatorships, the work of Mo Ibrahim and his Ibrahim Foundation might seem largely unknown.
For those who live in Africa, Ibrahim is nothing but famous for his crusade to improve African countries' governance.
A wealthy entrepreneur that made his fortune disseminating cell phones in rural Africa, Ibrahim -once a follower of the anticolonialist rhetoric of early sixties' leaders such as Patrice Lumumba or Kwane Nkruma and Nasser- learned first hand about the gap between the promises of independence and the realities of post-colonial corruption.
He recently summarized those realities for The New Yorker as follows:
"We are a very rich continent, the second-largest continent in the world, lush-green, plenty of resources Everything we have. Yet, we are the poorest people on Earth. So, rich continent, poor people. After fifty years of independence, I don't think we can continue to blame the colonialists.
The problems since are due to a catastrophic failure of leadership and governance. There is no other explanation. We have had to a very large extent very lousy leadership in Africa: too many dictators, too many megalomaniacs, too many thieves, who bled this continent for their personal and family interest.
All those leaders lover Western culture when it comes to expensive French wine, expensive American cars, mobile phones, airconditioning, aircraft, whatever. They love Western culture. When you speak about human rights they say, "No, no, no, no. Those are Western values"
Auletta, K. (2011) The dictators index.The New Yorker, March 7, 2011, Page 45
Ibrahim earned a PhD from Birmingham University in 1981 and a large fortune with his telecomunication companies, and decided to to something about the Mega picture he didn't like.
He created a 5 million award for government leaders who met four standards:
- Being elected to office in free elections
- Promote democracy
- Do not steal from their own people
- Cede power peacefully
In addition to the award, the Ibrahim Foundation -dedicated to develop leadership and governance across Africa-, publishes an annual Ibrahim Index of governance that compares all African countres' performance on four key factors:
- Security and rule of law -personal security, rule of law, accountability, corruption and national security-
- Participation and human rights - political participation, rights, gender-
- Sustainable economic opportunities - public management, private sector, infrastructure, environment and rural sector-
- Human development - Wealth and welfare, education
(Click here to download the 2010 executive summary)
The Ibrahim index is published every year in every country in Africa, and the Foundation communicates through the local media when a country loses its ranking.
The Ibrahim Foundation index measures many of the elements of the Minimal Ideal Vision and by providing feedback and rewards to governments and citizens, aims to foster governance and improve African social ecosystems.
Some good news from Africa, finally.
What would happen if a Ibrahim-like award were created for the Americas?
Food for thought, to be continued
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References
- Ibrahim Foundation
- Ibrahim Index
- Auletta, K. (2011) The dictators index.The New Yorker, March 7, 2011, Page 45
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