The Mo Ibrahim ‘igNobel Prize’: $5 Million for Not Being the Worst

African leaders are so congenitally corrupt that the only way “to remove corruption and improve governance” across the continent is to bribe them. This seems to be the perverse reasoning that inspired Sudanese billionaire Mo Ibrahim to award a prize to the African leader deemed least corrupt.

And to prove his intent to give this dubious distinction a value surpassing even the Nobel Prize (worth $1.4 million), the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership comes with a cash gift of $5 million over 10 years — paid when the winner leaves office — plus $200,000 a year for life.

But only a leader who “democratically transfers power to his successor” will be eligible for this golden parachute. So one wonders how this inducement will work, given that most African leaders seem to consider it an acceptable fringe benefit to steal more than $5 million each year they’re in power.

Now, before scoffing at the patently egocentric and inherently fatuous nature of Ibrahim’s igNobel Prize, note that Harvard University has signed on to evaluate candidates and select the annual winner. And, notwithstanding my cynicism, the good news (I suppose) is that former South African President Nelson Mandela, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan are among the notable statesmen who have endorsed it.

Still, this feels rather like promising a child a cookie to induce good behavior. It’s especially disappointing that those who have complained most about the paternalistic treatment of Africans are now the ones participating in this exercise—no matter how well-intentioned.

NOTE: Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo will probably be the first eligible to receive this prize when he’s “forced” to transfer power after national elections next April. He’s arguably the second least corrupt leader in Africa, after South African President Thabo Mbeki (who won’t be eligible until 2009).

Never mind that Obasanjo’s political opponents claim he may have dipped into the cookie jar a few times during his tenure—taking his share of the $380 billion that, according to the BBC, has been stolen or wasted by Nigerian leaders over the past 25 years.

Only in Africa, folks…