THE MO IBRAHIM FOUNDATION AWARDS TUTU

The Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is $1 million richer. He has been named to receive a monetary prize from the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.

 

The Foundation, launched by its namesake, to show humanitarian appreciation to a "democratically elected African head of state or government who has demonstrated exceptional leadership, served his or her constitutionally mandated term and left office in the last three years" is seven years old.

 

This is the first time the prize has gone to neither an "African head of state" nor "government". But Tutu is not a mere mortal. He has quite a reputation for these things.

 

In 1984, he received a Nobel Prize for Peace. In doing so, he put then unknown Vilakazi Street on the world map. Mandela would follow his example some ten years later. 

 

According to Ibrahim, the Archbishop receives the prize for his "lifelong commitment to speaking truth to power". Mo Ibrahim, a Senegalese national, made his dollar billions through investments in telecommunications.  

 

Initially, the award carried a lump sum of $5 million, followed by annual $200,000, to be payed to the recipient until death. Unforeseen circumstances have since rendered this commitment unattainable.

 

 Three other winners are Joachim Chissano, Festus Mogae, and Pedro Pires. And again, Mandela has gotten in on the act, having received a special award from the same foundation.