International • Created March 3, 2015 04:00

Namibia President gets $5m Mo Ibrahim prize

The $5m (N1.01bn) award is given each year to an elected leader who governed well, raised living standards and then left office. But the previous award was the fourth in five years to have gone unclaimed.Mr Pohamba, a former rebel who fought for his country’s independence, has served two terms as Namibian president.He was first […]

Namibia President gets $5m Mo Ibrahim prize
Namibia President gets $5m Mo Ibrahim prize

The $5m (N1.01bn) award is given each year to an elected leader who governed well, raised living standards and then left office. But the previous award was the fourth in five years to have gone unclaimed.
Mr Pohamba, a former rebel who fought for his country’s independence, has served two terms as Namibian president.
He was first elected in 2004 and again in 2009. He is due to be succeeded by President-elect, Hage Geingob.
Mr Pohamba was a founding member of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO), an armed movement that waged a decades-long campaign against South African rule.
Since the country won independence in 1990, SWAPO has dominated politics, usually winning huge majorities in elections.
Mr Pohamba, 79, was named recipient of the 2014 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership at a ceremony in Nairobi, Kenya. Mo Ibrahim is a British-Sudanese mobile communications entrepreneur and philanthropist who made billions from investing in Africa.
He launched the prize to encourage African leaders to leave power peacefully.
The inaugural prize was awarded in 2007 to Mozambique’s former president, Joaquim Chissano, who has since acted as a mediator in several African disputes. Botswana’s former President, Festus Gontebanye Mogae won in 2008, while President Pedro De Verona Rodrigues Pires of Cape Verde won in 2011.
The prize was not awarded in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013.
The $5m prize is spread over 10 years and is followed by $200,000 (N40.04m) a year for life. In 2009, former South African President Thabo Mbeki, former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo and ex-Ghanaian President John Kufuor were shortlisted but none was chosen.

Tags