Lack of Ibrahim winner a 'wake-up call'

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- The failure of any African head of state to win this year's Mo Ibrahim Award should be a wake-up call for the continent, an African Union leader says.

Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, chief executive officer of the AU's New Partnership for Africa's Development, says the inability of the prize's panel to find any former leaders who were worthy of the $5 million good-governance prize shows leadership capacity needs to be developed, the Voice of America reported Tuesday.

"The Mo Ibrahim Award is an award given by a private foundation, and (it has) very strict and quality criteria to let them choose in the most suitable manner a candidate," Mayaki said, noting it can only go to leaders who have stepped down from power within the last three years. Many African leaders stay in power for decades.

Mayaki added there were still positive signs within the Ibrahim panel's report, but, he told VOA, the lack of a prize was troubling.

"The fact that the award has not been given to a specific candidate, I think is just an alert which is given to the community of the African leadership so that we improve on our leadership capacities," he said.