The foundation of businessman Mo Ibrahim awarded its lucrative Africa leadership prize for the first time in three years, honoring Cape Verde's former president Pedro Pires for his stewardship of the tiny island nation and his peaceful exit from power.
The Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership gives more than $5 million in annual installments for life to leaders in Africa who are elected democratically, lead admirably and leave office constitutionally. The last award was given to Botswana's former president Festus Mogae in 2008. Since then, the foundation has chosen not to name a recipient—a clear sign of disapproval with the many African leaders who have clung to power even after losing elections.
The prize committee praised Mr. Pires on Monday for his role in shepherding Cape Verde from colonialism and one-party rule to a stable democracy. During a decade as president, Mr. Pires presided over annual economic growth of 6%.
Mr. Pires became Cape Verde's first prime minister after the rocky archipelago off West Africa, a colonial slave-trading outpost, won independence from Portugal in 1975. He stepped down in 1991 after losing the first multiparty elections held in any of Africa's five Portuguese-speaking nations.
Constitutional reforms later shifted power from the premiership to the presidency. Mr. Pires ran successfully for president in 2001 and stepped down early this year after the two-term limit dictated by the constitution.
Ireland's former President Mary Robinson, who serves on the seven-member committee, praised 77-year-old Mr. Pires for his "willingness to lose an election ... come back and become president, and bring about an economic management transformation."
In Africa, stepping away from power has been a rare career choice. In Ivory Coast late last year, Laurent Gbagbo refused to relinquish power after losing a presidential election to Alassane Ouattara, prompting a civil conflict that dragged into April, when he was ousted by force. And in Zimbabwe, an ailing President Robert Mugabe is pushing to hold elections scheduled for 2013 next year instead, to end the power-sharing arrangement with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in place since violent and disputed elections in 2008.
Last month, however, Michael Sata's victory over incumbent president Rupiah Banda in Zambia led to a peaceful presidential transitions of power. International observers are hoping the trend continues through several tests ahead. Liberia holds elections Tuesday, and Gambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will hold them in November.
Ms. Robinson warned that while many African countries are posting enviable growth rates, their democratic and civil institutions often lag far behind, with some slipping back toward autocracy.
"It's balanced development that we really seek. But it's important that we think about strengthening the institutions," that underpin civil society, Ms. Robinson said.
Because of those concerns, the committee didn't award the Ibrahim prize in 2009 and 2010, after giving it to Mr. Mogae in 2008 and former presidents Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique in 2007. Nelson Mandela also was an honorary recipient that year.
Not extending the award has been seen as a stinging comment on the state of African politics. But the foundation also has attracted criticism for such decisions from those who say it reinforces stereotypes of the continent as ungovernable
Mr. Ibrahim said Monday that rewarding a leader who didn't live up to basic democratic standards would be counterproductive. "It's not a pension," said Mr. Ibrahim, who funds the prize with the fortune he made on the Celtel mobile-telephone phone company he founded in 1998. "We have to have a worthy winner."
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