Kufuor to win Mo Ibrahim Award?

Ghananewslink can exclusively reveal that Ghana's immediate former President, John Agyekum Kufuor will be awarded the Mo Ibrahim Award which is expected to be announced in London on Monday the 14th of June, 2010.

It will be recalled that the Mo Ibrahim Foundation failed to announce a winner last year. Our sources tell us that the Foundation has decided to announce the winners in June as from this year and not October as it used to do previously.

The 2009 award was not awarded as the foundation stated it had found no worthy winner. At the time, the front runners were President John Kufuor of Ghana, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria.

Many pundits agreed with the Foundation insisting that the last year undemocratic maneuverings of President Obasanjo and President Mbeki which were aimed at a third term bid and the attempts to subvert the will of the masses respectively accounted for the Foundation shying away from the two.

As for President Kufuor, it was believed that many allegations of corruption and abuse of office as suspected in the sale of Ghana Telecom to Vodafone, the liquidation of Ghana Airways and the revelation at the Ghana at 50 Presidential Commission amongst many other damning audit reports of his tenure might have affected him adversely forcing the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to for the first time in its history declare "no winner."

Though it is not clear what has changed for there to be a winner this time round, it may be observed that the lack of many bright spots in the continent limits the choices for the Foundation.

Ghananewslink assigns in London who have been following the activities of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation very closely say all is set for Monday's announcement. Currently invitation letters are being dispatched to the diplomatic community whiles press accreditation is being processed.

At 11am on June 14 2010, this year’s Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership will be announced to the world’s media.

The largest individual annual award in the world, the Ibrahim Prize is worth US$5,000,000 over ten years and US$200,000 a year for life. A further US$200,000 a year, for ten years, is also available for public interest activities and good causes espoused by the winner. It is conferred to a democratically elected former Executive Head of State or Government from a sub-Saharan African country who has served their constitutionally mandated term and has left office in the last three years.

The Prize Committee of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation is comprised of:

· Kofi Annan (Chair), former Secretary-General of the United Nations and Nobel Laureate · Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland and Nobel Laureate · Aïcha Bah Diallo, former Minister of Education in Guinea and Director of Basic Education at UNESCO · Mohamed ElBaradei, former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nobel Laureate · Graça Machel, Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, and former Minister of Education and Culture in Mozambique · Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights · Salim Ahmed Salim, former Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity and former Prime Minister of Tanzania