Here is how the Nigerian media is covering the selection of the President of the World Bank from Google Nigeria.
The View from Nigeria
3
Interviews with Ngozi
- Frost Over the World: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: Changing the World Bank“
- Fareed Zakaria: Global Public Square:Okonko-Iweala on the World Bank
Nothing from Dr. Kim so far.
Who is responsible?
If, as expected, Dr. Kim is announced tomorrow as the new President of the World Bank, who do you suppose should be held responsible by the public, and history, for what promises to be an ineffective and tarnished presidency?
Is it the fault of Obama, who now seems to stand for ” a change no one should believe in”, the BRICS that turned out to be as soft as egg shells, or the board of executive directors which abandoned their responsibilities , according to the bylaws of the organization, and proved that they are simply little more than chess pieces for their Capitals?
If the process is now completely tarnished, who should be held responsible?
Poor process, poor legitimacy II – Mo Ibrahim speaks out
African telecoms billionaire and sponsor of prizes for good governance, Mo Ibrahim made – rather succinctly – some key arguments about why a flawed process is not in the interest of the Bank or even the US. Here’s what he had to say
“The world is changing. Continue reading
No transparency, no legitimacy: the backlash begins
A great op-ed in the Guardian by fellow blogger (and former colleague) Peter Chowla – he’s perhaps too modest to post if for himself, so I’ve done that for him below. Also signs that the inevitable backlash against the winner’s legitimacy – given the lack of transparency of the process – has begun, with critical comments from Oxfam and Save the Children in this piece.
Here’s Peter’s op-ed Continue reading
In response to “a Bank Insider’s” post about what the Board’s executive session, in camera discussion was about…
None of us, including “A Bank Insider” know what happened in the executive session. None of us know for a fact that ‘only the African directors [spoke] for Ngozi’. Continue reading
Russia backs Kim
Yesterday Russia joined the US, Canada, Mexico, Korea, and Japan in saying they will back Kim. They have only 1.7 per cent of the votes at the Bank, but they do have one of the 25 board seats. And they’re the first BRICS country to come out for him. Perhaps tellingly, their statement didn’t explain why they preferred Kim to his more experienced challenger, Okonjo-Iweala. I expect this is the route those backing Kim for (misguided) geopolitical considerations will go. Praise Kim, don’t mention the alternative, or how they decided his merits were better than Okonjo-Iweala’s. We shall see soon enough.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala will be on CNN’s GPS this Sunday
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala will be on CNN’s GPS with Fareed Zakaria this Sunday at 10am and 1pm EST. Here’s an excerpt of what she had to say: Continue reading
No merit based discussion took place
Sources tell me that despite the fact that the board met today for what was planned to be a discussion on the merits of the two remaining candidates, Jim Yong Kim and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, no such discussion took place, with only the African directors speaking for Ngozi. Ocampo hit the bull’s eye when he said in his withdrawal statement “… as we approach the final phase of this process, it is clear that it is becoming no longer a competition on the merits of the candidates but a political exercise.”
So the Obama who told the American people 4 years ago “yes we can”, is now telling the rest of the world “no, you really cant”. He may talk the talk, but he sure does not walk the walk.
Ocampo confirms he is retiring to support Ngozi
Ocampo released a communiqué confirming that in order “to facilitate the desired unity of the emerging and developing economies around a candidate” he is retiring from the race to support the Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, “to whom I wish the best of luck in this final stage”.
He expressed Continue reading