Rwanda: AfDB Gets New President Today

The African Development Bank (AfDB) will today get a new President, to replace Rwanda's Dr Donald Kaberuka, who has been at the Bank's helm since 2005.


Eight candidates are vying for the position and since Monday when the 50th Annual Meetings of AfDB kicked off in the Ivory Coast capital of Abidjan, lobbyists have been engaged in closed-door meetings in last gasp efforts to win the support of member states.

Kaberuka, 64, who served as Rwanda's finance and economic planning minister before he was elected to head Africa's top financial institution, delivered his last speech as AfDB president on Tuesday.

He will hand over the mantle to his successor on September 1.

The candidates seeking to replace Kaberuka include Nigeria's Akinwumi A. Adesina, Sufian Ahmed of Ethiopia, Tunisia's Jaloul Ayed, Kordje Bedoumra (Chad), Caboverdean Cristina Duarte (Cape Verde), Samura M. W. Kamara (Sierra Leone), Zimbabwe's Thomas Sakara and Birama Boubacar Sidibe of Mali.

The AfDB operates under the leadership of the president, who serves as the legal representative of the bank, its chairperson of the board of directors, and the chief of staff.

An AfDB president is elected by the Board of Governors to serve a five-year term, renewable only once.

Kaberuka was first elected in July 2005 and, in May 2010, he was re-elected for his his last five-year term.

With 78 per cent approval of the board of governors, Kaberuka was elected with the highest number of votes in the history of the 50-year-old financial institution.

The rules of procedure governing the election of the president of AfDB require that the bank holds the election of the president during the annual meeting closest to the end of the term of office of the serving president.

Accordingly, the board of governors will elect Kaberuka's successor today.