Ex-Namibian Leader First to Win Mo Ibrahim Prize Since 2011

ACCRA – The former president of Namibia, Hifikepunya Pohamba, became the fourth president to be awarded the Mo Ibrahim Foundation prize for African leadership, last given in 2011, at a ceremony in the Ghanaian capital on Friday.

The award, created to reward an African leader who serves out his constitutional term and then leaves office, was created in 2007 but has not been awarded every year (due to an absence of suitable candidates). Pohamba served as president of Namibia from 2005 until 2015.

The winner of the award is given $5 million over 10 years and $200,000 a year thereafter. The foundation also considers granting a further $200,000 a year for 10 years towards public interest activities and good causes espoused by the laureate.

The past winners are former presidents Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique in 2007, Festus Mogae of Botswana in 2008 and Pedro Pires of Cape Verde in 2011. Nelson Mandela was made an honorary laureate in 2007.

“This honor is not for me alone,” Pohamba was quoted as saying at the ceremony on Friday. “I accept it with a sense of great humility, on behalf of the Namibian people, who entrusted me, through democratic processes, to lead our country as president for two consecutive terms.”

The award, established by Sudanese-born mobile communications businessman Ibrahim, assesses democratically elected former executive heads of state or government from African countries who have served their term in office within the limits set by their country’s constitution and have left office within the last three years. The winner is selected by an independent committee of seven.

The chairman of the prize committee, former Tanzanian diplomat Salim Ahmed Salim, reportedly said at the ceremony that Pohamba had brought “national cohesion” at a “key stage” in his country’s consolidation of democracy.