Quotes by Mo Ibrahim

If we are to build grassroots respect for the institutions and processes that constitute democracy, the state must treat its citizens as real citizens rather than as subjects.

People never confess to failure. They should.

Increasing extremism - across Africa and the world - must be understood in the context of the failure of our leaders properly to manage diversity within their borders.

Computers are very expensive and they need power, and that can be a problem in Africa.

Many Africans are used to a life where they get up in the morning and dont know what theyre going to do that day.

Literacy in Tunisia is almost 100%. Its amazing - no country in the region or even in Asia can match Tunisia in education.

For citizens to become fully engaged in holding their leadership to account, accurate information is required to see where action is needed, to measure the results of policies and programmes, to build support for courageous decisions and to consolidate political legitimacy.

There is a crisis of leadership and governance in Africa, and we must face it.

The Nobel Prize is worth $1.5 million, but thats not the issue. Do the distinguished scientists who win the Nobel Prize need the money? Probably not. The honor is more important the money, and thats the case with the prize for African leadership as well.

Positive market incentives operating in the public interest are too few and far between, and are also up against a seemingly never-ending expansion of perverse incentives and lobbying.

Compared to developed countries, or even to some major emerging countries, burdened by aging populations, financial crises, widening budget deficits, faltering faith in politics and growing social demands, Africa has become the worlds last New Frontier: a kind of it-continent.

The issue with international institutions is that there is a crisis of legitimacy. Trust in these institutions is a serious problem.

More people smile at me now Im richer.

Botswana had three successive good presidents who served their legal terms, who did well for their countries - three, not one.