African People of the Year – Runners-up : Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Vera Songwe
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Choosing the runner-up in our annual African Person of the Year award proved no easy task. But two distinguished women economists perhaps stand out above the rest – Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Vera Songwe.
First published in Daily Maverick 168 Weekly newspaper
Okonjo-Iweala served two terms as Nigerian finance minister and spent 25 years at the World Bank, reaching the number two position as managing director of operations.
Over the past few months, she beat off strong competition to emerge as the candidate with the overwhelming majority of support of member states in a selection committee, to become the next director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Another prominent African, Amina Mohamed, the Kenyan cabinet minister and former international diplomat, was also in the race for the WTO job until very near the end.
Meanwhile, Cameroonian Vera Songwe, executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (Uneca) since August 2017, is a frontrunner to head the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Before taking over Uneca, Songwe was the IFC’s regional director for West and Central Africa.
Under its outgoing CEO, the Frenchman Philippe Le Houérou, it has sometimes been criticised for financing wealthy investors who don’t really need its support. Songwe is expected to refocus IFC financing on more deserving investors if she gets the job.
Going from economics to justice, the five judges of Malawi’s Constitutional Court who bravely annulled the re-election of then incumbent President Peter Mutharika in May 2019 must also be contenders.
Justices Healey Potani, Ivy Kamanga, Redson Kapindu, Dingiswayo Madise and Michael Tembo ruled in February this year that Mutharika’s victory had been rigged. The judges resisted bribe attempts and threats, travelling to court with armed escorts and wearing bulletproof vests.
In the runoff election they ordered, Mutharika lost to opposition candidate Lazarus Chakwera.
In October, British think-tank Chatham House awarded its annual prize to the five judges for their independence and bravery.
Another candidate for runner-up would be Vanessa Nakate, a Ugandan climate justice activist. In 2019, she staged a climate protest in front of Uganda’s parliament. She founded the Youth for Future Africa and the Africa-based Rise Up Movement, and spoke at the COP25 gathering in Spain in 2019.
The BBC ranked her among its top 100 Women for 2020.
Axel Emmanuel Gbaou, founder and CEO of Le Chocolatier Ivoirien, must also be a contender. His company manufactures handcrafted, quality chocolate using sustainable cultivation methods.
He started his career in the banking ...
First published in Daily Maverick 168 Weekly newspaper
Okonjo-Iweala served two terms as Nigerian finance minister and spent 25 years at the World Bank, reaching the number two position as managing director of operations.
Over the past few months, she beat off strong competition to emerge as the candidate with the overwhelming majority of support of member states in a selection committee, to become the next director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Another prominent African, Amina Mohamed, the Kenyan cabinet minister and former international diplomat, was also in the race for the WTO job until very near the end.
Meanwhile, Cameroonian Vera Songwe, executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (Uneca) since August 2017, is a frontrunner to head the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Before taking over Uneca, Songwe was the IFC’s regional director for West and Central Africa.
Under its outgoing CEO, the Frenchman Philippe Le Houérou, it has sometimes been criticised for financing wealthy investors who don’t really need its support. Songwe is expected to refocus IFC financing on more deserving investors if she gets the job.
Going from economics to justice, the five judges of Malawi’s Constitutional Court who bravely annulled the re-election of then incumbent President Peter Mutharika in May 2019 must also be contenders.
Justices Healey Potani, Ivy Kamanga, Redson Kapindu, Dingiswayo Madise and Michael Tembo ruled in February this year that Mutharika’s victory had been rigged. The judges resisted bribe attempts and threats, travelling to court with armed escorts and wearing bulletproof vests.
In the runoff election they ordered, Mutharika lost to opposition candidate Lazarus Chakwera.
In October, British think-tank Chatham House awarded its annual prize to the five judges for their independence and bravery.
Another candidate for runner-up would be Vanessa Nakate, a Ugandan climate justice activist. In 2019, she staged a climate protest in front of Uganda’s parliament. She founded the Youth for Future Africa and the Africa-based Rise Up Movement, and spoke at the COP25 gathering in Spain in 2019.
The BBC ranked her among its top 100 Women for 2020.
Axel Emmanuel Gbaou, founder and CEO of Le Chocolatier Ivoirien, must also be a contender. His company manufactures handcrafted, quality chocolate using sustainable cultivation methods.
He started his career in the banking ...