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Thursday, October 26, 2006

RAVE - For Ibrahim Mo and his "Best Prez" prize!

Ibrahim Mo (of Celtel fame) has launched a "competition" for best African president... the winner gets $5 Million!

This is a great idea... in spite of the critics objections....

Who do you think will win?
Does someone have a ready list of all African presidents?

Of the presidents I know.... I vote for Paul Kagame (Rwanda)
Others potential winners:
Thabo Mbeki (S. Africa)
Mwanawasa (Zambia)

Those who will definitely NOT win:

muggz mugabe (Zimbabwe) - Human Rights abuses & decrepit economy
bashir (Sudan) - Darfur genocide
geddi or something like that (Somalia) - He is sitting pretty in Kenya!
kikwete (Tanzania) - Short-sightedness in economic matters
museveni - blew it with 3rd term!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

i say mbeki - kagame is a dictator just like museveni.

if kenya had a mbeki for presdinet even for 1 term we would go so far

Anonymous said...

there are no good presidents in africa. good is relative. there are only bad and worse presidents. that's according to me. my opinion.

Those who will definitely NOT win:

Kibaki(Kenya) - thinks everyone is a kubaff!

Juju said...

I would vote for Kagame too... @ anon dictator is relative, but I daresay the man has really led Rwanda on its road to recovery.

@coldtusker-->glad u recognize Kikwete's economic short-sightnedness. I keep meeting people who are overly impressed by him!!!

Although, I dont know why a president should win $5mil???

coldtusker said...

I like Kagame coz he is young and progressive. He reminds me of Lee Kuan Yew. A benevolent dictator.

Africa is a tough place to be a democratically elected president (the tribal factor generally triumphs over common sense)...

I still vote for Kagame (as long as he continues his current enlightened activities) over Mbeki... but Mbeki is still in the running!

Anonymous said...

Integrity cannot be bought. In any case, this prize is the equivalent of telling the hungry hyaena in your digs to shikilia a raflle ticket that might win him supper in a few hours -and then hoping he's not going to chew on you!

coldtusker said...

The prize is to awarded AFTER a president steps down thus a museveni would NOT benefit i.e. get an award for the first few years then become a typical African president!

Beneficiaries would include folks like Mbeki (who will leave after his 2nd term)... and Shirleaf-Johnson.

mugabe & museveni would NOT be eligible until they step down... I don't expect either to win!

Kagame would have to step down to be eligible... so far he is on the right path...

This prize also creates ACCOUNTABILITY... We can compare and have role models...

When folks talk of India, they discuss Manmohan Singh's opening of the economy...

When folks talk of Singapore, they discuss Lee Kuan Yew's vision...

Apart from Mandela, which African president can we say did "good" for the country?

Nyerere was not a crook but his policies did hurt the economy and corruption was rife whereas kenyatta's initial economic policies were OK but then he (and his cronies) reaped what they did not sow...

Well, it will be easy for Mo coz there are either few or no candidates!

Girl next door said...

My vote is with Kagame; it's all about results and being progressive.

Anonymous said...

@majonzi and coldtusker.

kagame maybe progressive- but beyond the progress he contributed to the worst war in africa - the congo war. he unconstitionally removed he's predecessor among others things - i dont deny hes progressive bent. but the same can be said of museveni,aferworki and meles even mugabe at some point - the point is that good leaders build institutions and respect institutions

as for young leaders - the history of young leaders in africa has been
deplorable lets look at the list of 20 somethings and 30 somethings that came to power in Africa - lets take a look. samuel doe,mobutu sese seko,yahya jammeh omar bongo,mengistu,julius nyerere,ironsi,gowon this are all president who got into power in their 20's amd 30's their record speak for themselves - youth is not an idea and ideas know no age.
shit even moi was younger than our 'young turks'when he came to power (for the record im a youthful 30yrs)

mbeki is still

Baltic Amber said...

Kibaki's only saving grace has been his willingness to delegate the running of the country to reasonably competent people.

If moi had done this, he would have been fine, but he was too paranoid (after the coup in 1982) and too insecure about his intellectual abilities.

I was shocked to hear that people like nelson mandela and bill clinton are endorsing ibrahim's idea!! is this what africa has come to? we have to bribe present and future presidents to do the right thing for their OWN countries?? does the continent not have people with a "moral" compass?

coldtusker said...

kudri - You took a nasty turn there...

1) Mo is SUDANESE... and Egypt is in Africa.

2) We need fresh thinkers not old ideas that don't work.

3) Africa & S. America were at the same level 25 years ago... no comparison... African is in a shit-hole

4) Africa & S.E. Asia were at same level 40 years ago... dare I even compare Singapore or Malaysia to Djibouti or Tanzania?

5) We need radical ideas. Its Mo's money. Good for him. Give me just 2 (yes, TWO) model presidents (excluding Mbeki & Kagame) in Africa.

Mbeki rode in on Mandela's coat-tails but has done well. Kagame has done amazing stuff with what he had.

coldtusker said...

kudri - The hungry have no pride. Pride comes b4 a fall.

The Morrocans were smart. Better to be in EU than AU. Well, they could not join the EU.

"Asia" was a dirty word... today Japan (#2), China (#7) and India(#12) are among the top 12 economies of the world. I "predict" that India will be in the top ten by 2010.

If Kenya was next to Europe, I would campaign to quit AU (what has AU done for you lately?) and enter the EU.

Africa needs to get its act together. I would rather have the $5 Million build ONE better country than see the constant pillaging.
Yes, if the $5 Million can drive ONE president to do the right thing (even with the "prize" in mind) then Mo will have succeeded.