Global Policy Forum

By Mike Verdin

The idea that U2's Bono should become head of the World Bank is not so ridiculous as it appears.

"Boss required for the globe's most controversial financial institution." You will not have seen the post advertised, but then how many of the top jobs are? Besides, the presidency of the World Bank is, by convention, decided in Washington. Europe typically provides the leader of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank's sister organisation, with Rodrigo Rato, Spain's former finance minister, succeeding Germany's Horst Kohler to the post last year. The head of the World Bank is named in America, where front pages, if not job sections, have dedicated column feet to discussing the successor to James Wolfensohn, who is to retire after a decade in office.

This is an appointment which matters in the US. Which is fortunate for the countries ravaged by flood, Aids or poverty and which depend on the World Bank for support. And why it is a shame that a higher calibre of candidate has so far not been tipped for the post. Robert Zoellick, the former US trade representative who was favourite for the post, would have been a credible successor. As a champion of free trade, despite protectionist pressure from the White House, he gained considerable respect abroad. The Bush administration chose, however, to exploit Mr Zoellick's foreign contacts by appointing him to the State Department. Which has left the field open to the likes of John Taylor, a Treasury under secretary, and Randall Tobias, the US global Aids co-ordinator. While promising and with relevant international experience, would such candidates boast the clout in Washington that, say, Robert McNamara, the former defence secretary, did in the 1970s?

From the private sector has emerged the name of Carly Fiorina, who even before she was ousted as chairman and chief executive of Hewlett-Packard last month was suspected of harbouring political ambitions. A Republican, she has already been courted by Arnold Schwarzenegger, California's "Governator", and been tipped as a future senator for the state. In her case, though, appointment to the World Bank might appear a reward for failure, the equivalent of the kind of "kicked upstairs" peerage which in Britain has dogged the reputation of the House of Lords. Yet Ms Fiorina did rise to become the world's most powerful businesswoman after starting as a receptionist at an estate agent. She just needs the right outlet. Which the World Bank is not. Her career at H-P foundered on a singular failure to manage a mammoth global operation. Key to her failure was a craving for power which left her unable to sanction the appointment of a chief operating officer to help oversee the nitty gritty of H-P management. Her downfall illustrates the risks in empowering one person with the top two jobs in a large company.

The World Bank must, by its nature, be a listening bank. The kind which appreciates the complex problems of those it is lending to, can untangle the knotted world of non-governmental organisations, rather than progressing through some trouser-suited anti-poverty crusade. Its head needs to have "had a long-standing, broad and active interest in the developing world and development issues". Which was how President Clinton was able to describe Mr Wolfensohn ten years ago.

Which is probably why influential American voices have been suggesting Bono. Sir Bob Geldorf might have a longer record as the voice of the poor and dispossessed, but Bono has sold more records in America in the past quarter century and so is seen as someone who might fit the bill. Bono has international credibility, a keen understanding of development issues and, through his mega-earnings with U2, a handle on money. The problem is, of course, that he was not born in the US. But then neither was Mr Wolfensohn, a naturalised American. Bono - or Paul Hewson, to give him his full name - has already managed to persuade a US treasury secretary to appear before the press in traditional African clothing. What might he achieve in dressing up the world of international development?

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