Not quite on the heels of the recent announcement that the Mo Ibrahim Prize For Achievement failed to award a winner for the 3rd time in 6 years… a prize that's awarded to African leaders of state who "deliver security, health, education and economic development to their constituents, and who democratically transfer power to their successor."

Uongozi is an upcoming new Kenyan political reality show that seeks to create a virtual national Kenyan election and campaign process on prime time television.

At the heart of the show is the desire to identify potential new young political leaders.

From all the entries received from young Kenyans hoping to be participants in the reality show, 48 will be selected to face a variety of weekly challenges to test their leadership qualities and skills.

Candidates will be subjected to opinion polls and elimination votes via voting by the viewing public, and eventually, the 48 will be voted down to 3 candidates, who will compete in a live broadcast finale involving a live Presidential-type debate, followed by public voting, and then an announcement of the winner, who will receive funding for a social project, a scholarship for an internationally recognized leadership course, and/or the opportunity to meet prominent African/International leaders.

Definitely an idea that intrigues, and is of interest to me, and I'm sure (at least I hope) to some of you as well. I'd actually like to see a similar kind of reality TV show on a major TV network here in the USA. And no, The Apprentice doesn't count.

Uongozi is made possible by the support of USAID, UKAID, the Swiss Embacy in Kenya, and several other partners.

Watch the first episode of the Uongozi TV show as recently aired on NTV Kenya. This episode focuses on the first round of auditions that took place around several counties; it's embedded below in 2 parts (it's not all in English, but the vast majority is).

Here's Part 1:

And here's Part 2: