Zondo Sakala of Zimbabwe wants to be AfDB president

A former staff of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Thomas Zondo Sakala has expressed interest in contesting the presidency of the multilateral institution.

Sakala, a Zimbabwean had worked with the Bank for 31 years. He has the support of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Zimbabwean government.

Sakala joins seven other potential candidates who have shown interest in the position as it becomes vacant in May this year.

The current president of the Bank Donald Kaberuka ends his two five-year terms this year and a replacement is expected to be voted into office on May 28, 2015 at the Bank’s Annual General Meeting in, Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

The other seven who have expressed interest in the position are; Sufian Ahmed of Ethiopia, Dr. Cristina Duarte of Cape Verde, Dr Samura Kamara of Sierra Leone, Dr Akinwunmi Adeshina of Nigeria, Mr Jalloul Ayed of Tunisia, Dr Kordjé Bédoumra of Chad, and Mr Birama Boubacar Sidibe of Mali.

The list of final nominees would be known by the first week of February when nominations would close.

Sakala’s entrance into the race is expected to make the contest even more exciting, because he is the second nominee to have worked with the Bank, the other is Ayed. The insider tag, is likely to weigh in the favour of either of them, but Sakala appears to be a stronger candidate as he is liked by most senior staff of the Bank.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi