The Mo Ibrahim Foundation, MIF, has said that there is no winner for the 2016 Ibrahim Award for Achievement in African leadership.

This is the second year running that the Ibrahim Prize has not been awarded, according to the independent Prize Committee chairman, Salim Ahmed, due to the high standards and criteria the award holds.

“As I emphasise each year, a very high bar was deliberately set when the Prize was launched in 2006,” Ahmed said.

“We recognise and applaud the important contributions that many African leaders have made to change their countries for the better.

“But the Prize is intended to highlight and celebrate truly exceptional leadership, which is uncommon by its very definition.

“After careful consideration, the Committee has decided not to award the Prize in 2016,” he added.

2016 is not the only year since the commencement of the Mo Ibrahim award that the prize had no winner.

There were no winners for five previous years – 2009, 2010, 2012 2013 and 2015.

Candidates for the Ibrahim Prize are chosen based on five criteria namely he/she: must be a former African executive head of state or government; must have left office in the last three calendar years; must be democratically elected; must have served his/her constitutionally mandated term, and must have demonstrated exceptional leadership.

Only four past African leaders had been awarded the $5 million prize since it was launched in 2006.

They include: President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique in 2007; President Festus Mogae of Botswana in 2008; President Pedro Pires of Cape Verde in 2011 and President Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia in 2014.

Nelson Mandela was the inaugural Honorary Laureate in 2007.

The $5 million prize money is spread over 10 years, with an additional $200,000 a year for life.