Who’s Africa’s least terrible former leader?

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Mozambique’s former president, Joaquim Chissano, has been announced as the winner of the $5 million Ibrahim prize for African governance, which Passport wrote about last month. Chissano, who governed Mozambique for 19 years, played a crucial role in his country’s transition from colonial rule, helped usher in political and economic reforms, and negotiated an end to 16 years of civil war. Perhaps most crucially, he stepped down voluntarily at the end of his term despite overwhelming popular support. His Ibrahim prize money could actually end up amounting to quite a bit more than $5 million, since Chissano will receive $500,000 per year for the next ten years and then $200,000 per year for the rest of his life.

Sudanese cell-phone magnate Mo Ibrahim started the prize as a reward for exemplary former African leaders, who often rely on meager pensions in their retirement. The idea for the prize has been endorsed by African elder statesmen like Nelson Mandel and Kofi Annan, who announced the winner on Monday. However, not everybody is happy, as Dianna Games of the South African Magazine Business Day explains:

Critics of his plan believe Africans should expect good governance, not feel that they have to reward it as something extraordinary. One blog I came across sums it up: “While heads of government on other continents are expected to deliver peace and prosperity with only their people’s gratitude and a pension as compensation, in Africa’s case this is considered to be a tall order.” […] And anyway, rewards for good governance should be conferred on the people, not their leaders, in the form of economic growth, employment and opportunities.

No word yet on how Chissano, who today runs an eponymous foundation and is often called upon by the United Nations to act as a negotiator, plans to spend the money. He seemed somewhat stunned by the amount when interviewed by the BBC last week. Whatever the prize’s merits, Mozambicans are justifiably proud of their former leader being held up as a positive role model. Said one man:

Other African leaders like (Libya’s) Muammar Gaddafi and (Zimbabwe’s) Robert Mugabe should take the example of Mr Chissano who stepped down even though he had one mandate to run.”

If only.