Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Nation & World

The World

Posted 10/29/06
Page 2 of 2

The new group also is empowered to determine that an ailing king is incapable of performing his duties and then to declare the crown prince as king-a provision intended to avoid a repeat of the experience with King Fahd, who remained king in title despite being incapacitated by a stroke in 1995.

BRITAIN. Cellphone tycoon Mo Ibrahim, 60, is calling for better leadership in Africa.
LEON NEAL-AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Move Over, Nobel Peace Prize

Too often, African leaders seem to do the best for themselves by doing the worst for their nations through corruption, repression, and cruel indifference. Mo Ibrahim aims to change that. The Britain-based cell-phone entrepreneur-who was born in Sudan-is using some of his self-made fortune to fund a rich annual prize for good governance and another all-too-rare practice in Africa: a willingness to relinquish power. Each leader awarded the $5 million prize-larger than the $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize-receives payments over 10 years after leaving office (and $200,000 a year thereafter for life). Winners will be chosen based on criteria developed by Robert Rotberg, a professor at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Among those applauding: Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan, Bill Clinton, and Tony Blair. The first winner is to be named late next year.

With Associated Press

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