$5 Million as a prize - I think it is worth it! Just consider the alternative.

Today it was reported that former Mozambican President, Joaquim Chissano, was awarded the Mo Ibrahim prize for excellence in leadership for an African statesman. The prize money amounts to $US5 Million.

At first I thought, heck $5 Million US, that's about as much as some of the poorer African nations whole budget! But then I thought, well, what is the alternative?

If one were to do an estimate of how much money Robert Mogabe has pillaged from the poor of Zimbabwe I'm sure that it would be a heck of a lot more!

I say well done to Mr Chissano, and well done to the generous benefactor, Mo Ibrahim. May we see many, many more examples of good, honest, integral, African leadership. We are NOT a corrupt continent, we are NOT doomed to poverty and subservience. We are African. We can teach the world another way to live.

Go to the BBC website for full coverage of this story.

What are your thoughts and comments?

Technorati tags: prize, African leader, Joaquim Chissano/a>, Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe