By Laura MacInnis
Geneva - A new $5-million (about R36-million) prize for good leadership could spur African heads of state to govern better, said former United Nations chief Kofi Annan, who will head the committee making the award.
The Mo Ibrahim Prize, the world's largest such award, would make African rulers more conscious of their records on human rights and democracy, said Annan, who stepped down as UN secretary-general at the end of 2006.
"I think it will energise civil society discussions and encourage the leaders themselves to understand that there is some mechanism to judge their performance," he said in an interview in Geneva, where the award's six-member selection committee met for the first time this weekend.
Annan said poor governance was a problem in much of his native continent, which is the poorest region of the world and suffers severe health problems including high rates of HIV and Aids, malaria and other diseases.
"There are leaders in Africa who are doing well and there are others who are not doing so well, and perhaps do not take the interests of their people to heart the way they should," the 68-year-old Ghanaian said.
Annan, a career diplomat, did not mention any African ruler by name and declined to answer questions about Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe has drawn international condemnation for a brutal crackdown on opposition leaders in the past month.
"What is exciting is that civil society has become more engaged, more active in pressing their leaders to respect democracy and to respect human rights," he said.
"You have a younger generation of educated bright Africans whom I hope would also go into politics and maintain this pressure."
The annual award, set up by Sudanese businessman Mo Ibrahim, will go to former presidents and prime ministers from sub-Saharan Africa who left office in the three years prior and who showed exemplary leadership while in power.
Winners will get $5-million over 10 years and then $200 000 (about R1,4-million) each year for life, with another $200 000 annually for "good causes" they espouse. By contrast, the Nobel Peace Prize, which Annan won jointly with the UN in 2001, pays $1,5-million (about R11-million).
Annan said the award's assessments of African leaders' successes in areas such as economic development, peace and security, and the rule of law would help set a benchmark for other rulers to be measured against.
Other members of the panel, which will announce the first winner in October, include former Irish President and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, former Tanzanian Prime Minister Salim Salim, former Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari and former Guinean Education Minister Aicha Bah Diallo.
Annan, who since leaving the UN has been splitting his time between Switzerland and Ghana, said he intended to devote much of his energy to African development issues, especially agriculture and food insecurity, and to humanitarian crises.
Additional reporting by Anne Richardson and Reuters TV.