Obama wins Nobel Peace prize

Much column space in the press this morning has been given over to challenging whether President Barack Obama is a worthy recipient of the highly prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. Many question why Morgan Tsvangirai, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (survivor of several assassinations, arrests, beatings and tortures), was not given the award. In the absence of President Obama, I have no doubt that Tsvangorai would have been the winner. However, Obama is here and, to my mind, he is a worthy recipient.

Great leadership is not always about what an individual does; rather it is about the impact you have through your influence on others. Obama has been singularly successful in influencing policy and practice across the world since he took office. The most significant of these, in my view, is in regard to establishing global security on the issue of nuclear disarmament.

He has come out more forcibly than any other US president in his calls for a world free from nuclear weapons. In the months and years to come he must continue to win hearts and minds, especially in what his less than illustrious predecessor referred to as the 'war against terrorism'.