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ZIMBABWE is on the cusp of a major diplomatic coup as Mr Thomas Zondo Sakala, the Sadc nominee for the presidency of the African Development Bank (AfDB), edges closer to the top post.
If Mr Sakala successfully replaces the outgoing president of the regional development institution, Dr Donald Kaberuka, whose second five-year term expires at the annual general meeting scheduled between May 25 and May 29, 2015, the country will be at its most powerful, diplomatically, controlling most of the levers of continental power.
President Mugabe was elected African Union Chairperson on January 30, replacing President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania. He is also the Chairperson of the Southern African Development Community after assuming the helm on August 17, 2014.
Last week, Government engaged diplomats accredited to Harare to push for the Zimbabwe and Sadc candidate for the AfDB post.
Already, the country is assured of votes from the 14-member regional bloc.
But seven other candidates stand between Mr Sakala and his dream to become the eighth president of the AfDB.
There has been intense jockeying for the post, with Nigeria — which is the biggest shareholder in the African-focused multilateral finance institution (9,26 percent) — pushing for the candidacy of its minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina.
Nigerian minister of finance and co-ordinating minister of the economy Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is spearheading that campaign.
She was recently at the AfDB headquarters to do the paperwork for the candidate and has been engaging the international community as part of the lobby.
Unlike the Asian Development Bank or the World Bank, whose presidents have necessarily to be Japanese or American nationals, respectively, the architecture of the AfDB is considered to be so egalitarian that it stifles any hegemonic tendencies.
In essence, even if Nigeria might be the biggest shareholder of the bank, it cannot conveniently sway the vote in its favour.
The voting system of the African Development Bank does not put emphasis on subscriptions as voting is allocated to African countries according to a formula that equalises influence.
Basic votes allocated to all member countries usually account for 50 percent of the total votes, and even in instances were additional votes are allocated according to subscriptions, the ratio between the country with the highest number of votes and the smallest often always amounts to 5:1 — notwithstanding the maximum ratio of subscriptions.
The AU is made up of 54 African regional member countries.
It also has 26 non-African country members: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
Nigeria’s diplomatic push has faced some hurdles.
Vice-president Namadi Sambo last week solicited the support of Morocco, Algeria and Egypt. However, Morocco has been hostile to the bid and it is understood Francophone African countries are still furious that Nigeria absconded from a December 30, 2014 UN vote for Palestine to be recognised as an independent state.
This is the third year that Nigeria has angled for the AfDB post, after previous bids in the 1970s and in 2005. The last time around, Mr Olabisi Ogunjobi lost to Dr Kaberuka from Rwanda, which back then had just 0,16 percent voting powers at the bank but was still able to get their man to the helm.
Kenya, which has been also aggressive in trying to push for key regional and global positions in line with its growing economic influence, is not fielding any candidate.
The other six candidates vying for the post this year are Mr Sufian Ahmed (Ethiopia finance minister), Mr Birma Boubacar Sidibe (Mali, vice-president of Islamic Development Bank), Mr Samura Kamara (Sierra Leone foreign affairs minister), Mr Jalloul Ayed (Tunisia ex-finance minister), Mr Kodje Bedoumra (Chad finance minister), Mrs Cristina Duarte (Cape Verde finance and planning minister).
The formal nomination process opened on July 1, 2014 and candidates were announced in February this year.
The AfDB, which was formed in 1963, will soon be moving back to its old headquarters in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, after a decade in Tunis, Tunisia, following political disturbances in the West African country.
Online Reporter