And the winner is... no one

Posted By Elizabeth Dickinson Monday, October 19, 2009 - 11:20 AM Share

It's not a good sign when your leadership prize runs out of eligible candidates to honor after a whopping two years. Welcome to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation's Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, whose winner was meant to be announced in London today.

This year the Prize Committee has considered some credible candidates. However, after in-depth review, the Prize Committee could not select a winner."

Yikes. It's been a rough year for African governance. A coup in Guinea led off the year last November, followed shortly by another unwelcome transition of power in Madagascar. Retiring heads of state this year included only Ghana's John Kufuor and South Africa's Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe, who served for under a year. All the other elections were marred by voting irregularities, repression, and/or the reinstatement of long-time rulers for whom 3rd term is not a dirty word.

The good news? The Mo Ibrahim Foundation was founded to make a statement about the need for more and better African Leadership -- and it has certainly done that this year.

SHAUN CURRY/AFP/Getty Images

EXPLORE:AFRICA, CORRUPTION

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F1FAN

7:50 AM ET

October 20, 2009

Zing!

Well, at least they admitted there was no one worthy of winning rather than just pick someone who is popular..........I wonder if the Nobel committe have read this?

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