A new survey released today, the "Ibrahim Index," takes a comprehensive look at corruption in sub-Saharan African nations, ranking 48 countries on their good (or not-so-good) governance. Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese-born businessman who made his fortune as chairman of the mobile phone company Celtel, financed the survey, which was administered by Robert Rotberg from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. The data isn't earth-shattering: Mauritius, an island nation bolstered by tourism and a stable government, comes in at number one, while Somalia ranks dead last at number 48. What's different about this survey is that the Index is trumpeted to be a guide for the Mo Ibrahim Foundation's Prize Committee, led by Kofi Annan, which will select a former African head of state to receive the organization's first annual prize on October 22, 2007. It's an unorthodox beauty pageant; eligible recipients must have "taken office through popular elections and left having served the constitutional term stipulated when taking office." The recipient wins $5 million to be paid over 10 years, as well as an additional $200,000 to be paid annually for the duration of the recipient's life. For those keeping score at home, the Nobel Peace Prize pays out $1.3 million. So, the goal is to incentivize democratically elected African leaders to step down when they're supposed to--there could be a big check waiting for them! Will it work? Well, maybe. There are no "ridiculous" lecture fees (to quote Dubya) awaiting those who leave office, and according to this editorial, almost half of Africa's 53 elected presidents have held power for more than 10 years, with 15 leaders remaining in power for over 15 years. But the prize isn't perfect. As academic Selim Nasruddin says,"[w]hat you are effectively saying is the only way to keep African leaders on the straight and narrow is to bribe them, that their main motivating factor is money rather than a sense of civic duty. Would such a prize be offered elsewhere?" It's a fair point--there's something a bit patronizing about rewarding leaders for not doing what they're not supposed to do. Nevertheless, I'm intrigued, if not downright optimistic, by Ibrahim's proposal. And I'm not the only one. Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and the directors of organizations like Oxfam and Transparency International have all endorsed the Mo Ibrahim Foundation's plans as an innovative new way to confront corruption in African politics. Time will tell if it works, but its off to a promising start, if only because the Mo Ibrahim Foundation is an entirely African creation, exemplified both by its namesake and its majority African board. For a continent whose major spokesperson in the U.S. has been an Irish rock star, the existence of a homegrown movement for reform is praiseworthy indeed. --Melanie Mason