The best Africa has to offer?

Apparently Lesotho has the best ICT infrastructure in Africa. This news could make the governments of countries like Egypt, Botswana, Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria splutter with surprise. I know I was startled to hear it.

It is through implication that Lesotho is the continent's ICT leader, because its former ICT minister was named the "Top Minister in Africa with an ICT Portfolio" at the African ICT Achiever awards, proudly staged last week by ForgeAhead, in partnership with the Department of Communications, its partners and stakeholders.

With the criteria for such an award kept fairly vague, the onlooker must conclude that the winner is supremely good at creating legislation and a framework that allows for massive ICT progress to be made in their country.

Or - dare I say it - this winner's name was drawn out of a hat. Or because the winner was one of the hosts. Or a buddy of the hosts.

Also rewarded this year was communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, who was presented with a special award "for her dedication to the proliferation of the ICT industry in SA and across the continent, as well as the promotion of the use of technology within governments for better service delivery to citizens, and her support of making use of African experts".

This year's African ICT Achievers awards panned out into a performance so shamelessly self-indulgent on the part of the hosts that it should have taken place behind closed doors.

Tracy Burrows, editor, iWeek

Then there was an award for the Top Public Sector CIO in Africa - handed to the former CIO of the SA Department of Home Affairs, which has been crawling towards completion of its big Hanis project for a decade now. And then there was an award for Top ICT Company in Africa - proudly received by state-owned arivia.kom.

Sadly, this year's African ICT Achievers awards panned out into a performance so shamelessly self-indulgent on the part of the hosts that it should have taken place behind closed doors.

The finalists for the awards were such a bewildering assortment of genuine leaders, bumbling incompetents and insignificant operations that it was hard to establish who deserved to win and who did not. Unfortunately, those who really did deserve their prizes (and, to be fair, there were some), came away tarnished by other poorly chosen finalists and winners.

Unfortunately for all of Africa and its many world-class ICT enterprises, anyone abroad who mistakes this for a credible awards ceremony may think that its winners are the best Africa has to offer.