World Bank: US opens campaign for Kim as Nigeria still mute on Okonjo-Iweala

Kim & Obama

Iweala

Although President Barack Obama waited until the last day to announce the US nomination for the office of World Bank President, no sooner he released a name had the full weight of US government started campaigning actively for the College President, Dr Jim Yong Kim, an Asian-American, Empowered 

Newswire reports.
But no official of the Nigerian government has issued any statement in support of Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who will be interviewed for the World Bank presidency alongside Colombian nominee Jose Antonio Ocampo and the American nominee. Besides Okonjo-Iweala’s appearance in South Africa on Friday speaking up for herself in the contention for the race just before Obama’s announcement,  presidency and federal government officials including Foreign Affairs Ministry have remained silent, sending a curious signal of the real attitude of the federal government.
Sources also added that Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s official spokesperson, Paul Nwabuikwu’s denial on Wednesday does not help matters, when in the next two days after the Finance Minister herself was ready to start campaign. In Washington DC over the weekend, the White House has started releasing different statements of support for Obama’s choice including one from an African head of state, Rwandan Paul Kagame, a noted and respectable voice in the continent.

World Bank sources said Kagame’s immediate support of the US choice shows a crack already in the African camp, and also indicates the lack of an active support from the Nigerian federal government. 
Although World Bank sources close to the Board of Directors who will make the final decision said it will be an uphill task to overcome Obama’s choice, there are many within and outside the Bank who see Dr. Kim as a notable development activist especially in the medical and health areas, but lacking in the broader understanding that the World Bank President should normally possess.

A top World Bank source said yesterday that the “global development community have already started tearing away at President Obama’s choice,” adding that “if you look at it purely on the merit, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has the edge.”

The decision of the bank’s Board of Directors which is made up of 25 members would be by consensus, although Us and European countries already have a majority. The US alone has about 15% voting power on the board, while Nigeria has less than 1%. Despite the massive support that the US candidate, Jim Yong Kim, is expected to enjoy among the board of directors, the US government is not leaving any stone unturned in their campaign for him. 

For instance top US government officials said Kim would soon embark on a global tour to nation’s capital seeking support of governments with the full weight of American diplomats behind him.

Besides, over the weekend, the White House released supporting statements from the US Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner, former President Bill Clinton, Kagame of Rwanda and even Prof Jeff Sachs, who had earlier shown active interests in the position.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, in the White House statement said “I was delighted to learn that Jim Kim has been nominated for this post, as he is a true friend of Africa and well known for his decade of work to support us in developing an efficient health system in Rwanda. “Kagame, who is widely respected within and outside Africa added that Kim, the American nominee is “not only a physician and a leader who knows what it takes to address poverty, but also a genuinely good person. President Obama’s nomination of Dr. Kim as President of the World Bank is a welcome  one, and should resonate well with the many men and women who are working to transform lives around the world." But even among the Americans in the development community, some voices have started speaking in support of Okonjo-Iweala. For instance the Center for Global Development based in the US capital and said to have connections with the Nigerian Finance Minister said over the weekend on its website that “the US had a chance to lead.  It abdicated that chance to play domestic politics and put forward a US nominee who is manifestly less qualified to be head of the World Bank than the alternative candidate nominated by African countries: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.” In the opinion written by  Lant Pritchett, a professor of International Development from Harvard University, the World Bank president ideal candidate should have some specific experience, all of which Okonjo-Iweala already possesses.

These include:

Some experience in government and the process of policy-making (as the World Bank’s clients are all governments),

Some acquaintance with economic policy and policy making—including  the tough choices like allocation of resources across uses,

Some knowledge of finance (it is, after all, a bank that makes income from lending money), 

Perhaps some management experience in a multilateral organization.

Exposure to the breadth of development issues.

The view said the US nominee, Dr Jim Yong Kim “has no experience in government.  He has been engaged in development as an academic and through NGOs.”

Similarly the Harvard professor added that the US nominee Dr. Kim “has worked exclusively on health issues (rightly, as he is a physician) and never been in position of responsibility about economic policy.  Health was just one of many sectors for which Ngozi had to allocate budgets and promote 
performance.”
Besides, the argument continues that the only thing that the US nominee has ahead of Nigeria’s Finance Minister is the US passport.  Said he:  “Jim holds an American passport.  Ngozi is a Nigerian woman. In this day and age, is that still really all it takes?

Continuing, the Harvard scholar said in the area of wide exposure “there is a massive difference between doing development work and doing charity work to mitigate the consequences of the lack of development.  Ngozi has done development work in many settings and in many positions both in Nigeria and within the World Bank.  Jim deserves praise for having devoted his time,  attention and expertise in medicine to improve the health care for people in the developing world—which is certainly one component of development—but his development experience is limited to one sector.”

March 26, 2012