A beer for Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim recently announced he is in a joint venture bid with the government of Ethiopia for Meta Abo Brewery. Ibrahim is none other than the Sudanese-British mobile communications entrepreneur who in 2006 established The Ibrahim Prize of $5 million over 10 years and $200K annually for life to recognise and ‘award a democratically elected former African executive head of state or government who has served their term in office within the limits set by the country's constitution and has left office in the last three years.’

The recognition is, obviously, planned to be an incentive to remedy a perennial problem plaguing Africa of leaders not wanting to leave office (keeping qualified and credible candidates out and preferring to die in office or appoint a successor, thus depriving the nation of potential human capital).

The problem with Meles Zenawi and his wife (and other African leaders) is that good character never registers high in their public life and, hence, they don’t understand why they should settle for $5 million over 10 years when they could make ten-fold or 50-fold with no obligations attached.

According to the declared standards, Zenawi falls dismally short on all criteria (safety and rule of law; participation and human rights; sustainable economic opportunity; human development) for excellence in leadership. We suggest that level of education for those in leadership should also be considered in the evaluation. That way, diplomas doled out (sold) to the undeserving by western diploma mills (extortionists, really) and the danger they pose to a nation’s economic and human welfare would be identified for what they are: illegal, worthless and a threat.

The above bid was made public by the Privatisation and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency (PPESA) - a corrupt agency with a history of under-pricing state enterprises to favour members of the ruling minority and their supporters. More than likely Ibrahim could be the winner in the bid for Meta Abo.

So, what could that mean for the ruling minority and its Liqqu (‘wise’) leader Meles Zenawi? We never could tell except he has been angling for the coveted prize since 2006. The problem is that The Ibrahim Index has consistently rated Ethiopia low in terms of governance (31st in 2008; 37th in 2009). In 2009, the second year for Zenawi’s bid, the prize committee could not find a single leader deserving of the prize.

Here is an excerpt (verbatim) from an argument (proposed in 2006 and revised in 2009) for awarding the prize to Zenawi. Observe how it is all about Zenawi and little about the long-suffering Ethiopian people. Observe also the spurious information presented as factual.

‘Meles deserves to work towards getting the Mo Leadership Prize by the end of his term given he transfers power peacefully. As we all do, whenever there is a prize announcement in academic competition or any other competition we try our best to win. We write our applications and essentially nominate ourselves and present our work to achieve it. It is not any different here. If the bylaws of the Prize are to nominate oneself by writing an application statement then he should do it. If it is by third party nomination, then we should support his nomination.

Why does Meles deserve this prize? First and foremost, he is one of the very few leaders in the world who has successfully transformed himself from a second year medical student to a fighter, commander/leader, head of state, economist and intellectual, and from a communist to an architect of developmental state. He has passed through challenges - jungle life, within party fights (the 1984 and the 2000) and the recent election fights with people who have grave hate towards him and his people. Shortly, he is tested!

On the other hand he is a very disciplined man. He values family - sticking to his ‘amin’ first wife and is a family man. He has been seen accompanying his daughter to a high school graduation despite the hectic nature of being head of government. He has made conversations and letter exchanges with school children at several levels…

He also has other qualities. As far as my knowledge is concerned he is the only leader in the history of Ethiopia who fluently speaks English, Amharic, and Tigrigna. He probably is the only leader who has achieved the highest ladders of education while in office. If the recent news is true he might get a PhD very soon. That would probably make him the first leader to achieve a PhD while in office. He has demonstrated to friends and foe how brilliant he is in articulating the issues that are fundamental for economic development in African countries.

His nomination to the Blair African Commission, his recent role in the China-Africa partnership, his recent invited speech in the EU development conference, the prizes and honorary doctorates he has been getting, the recent invited speech at the G20 summit and the invitation to the forthcoming G8 meeting clearly show the high regard he is winning from the international community.

He has had a key role in influencing the World Bank and IMF aid policy for Third World countries. His recent manuscript on the developmental state is, simply put, a great addition to the debate on the possible strategic solutions to the problems of developing countries (especially Africa). What makes it more interesting is that his background is from the poor like one of us.’ More here.

So, we raise a Meta Abo beer to Mo’s health. But we warn him to make sure he has paid in full for all his dealings in this dark and shark-infested underworld of a market overseen by a corrupt agency with a misleading little title and taking orders from the prime minister's wife.

A last note to Ibrahim. We applaud your entrepreneurial spirit and humanitarian acts. But above all, we cling to the hope you raise in us all in your worthy campaign, ‘No Safe Havens: A Global Forum on Stolen Asset Recovery and Development’.

Another Meta bottle for Mo; this time charge it to Recycler!

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* This article originates from the blog Ethiopian Recycler.

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.