Chissano wins prize for leadership

The prize announced in 2006 by the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, backed with the support of the chairman of Celtel International, Dr. Mo Ibrahim, is presided over by the immediate past Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), Professor Kofi Annan.

Former president Chissano will receive US$5 million over 10 years and US$200,000 annually for life thereafter, while an estimated US$200,000 a year for 10 years would be voted towards the winner's public interest activities and good causes.

Announcing the prize in London, on Monday, Annan said that former President Chissano's achievements in bringing peace, reconciliation, stable democracy and economic progress to his country greatly caught the committee's attention.

"So, too, did his decision to step down without seeking the third term the constitution allowed," he said.

Annan commended Chissano's government over the economic progress, poverty reduction programmes, infrastructure development and work to tackle HIV/AIDS.

"It is his role in leading Mozambique from conflict to peace and democracy that President Chissano has made his most outstanding contribution," he asserted, adding that his major contribution outside his country's borders included being "a powerful voice for Africa on the international stage."

Annan stressed that the prize celebrates more than just good governance, but also leadership.

"The ability to formulate a vision and to convince others of that vision; and the skill of giving courage to society to accept difficult changes in order to make possible a longer term aspiration for a better, fairer future," the committee said.

The prize was established by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, in October 2006, as an African initiative prize to strengthen governance on the continent.

The prize committee is made up of six eminent individuals to asses every sub-Saharan African leader who has left office in the last three full calendar years on their exercise of leadership.

Reacting to the outcome of the first prize, the founder of the foundation, Mo Ibrahim, said, "I am absolutely delighted that Joaquim Chissano has been selected as the first Laureate. As a man who has reconciled a divided nation and built the foundations for a stable, democratic and prosperous future for the country, he is a role model not just for Africa, but for the rest of the world."

The prize committee is also comprise of the former UN Special Representative for Namibia and former President of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari; Aïcha former Minister of Education in Guinea and Special Adviser to the Director-General of UNESCO, Bah Diallo; recently appointed Managing Director, World Bank, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson; former Prime Minister of Tanzania and former Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim.

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