Bono will not be saving the world at the helm of the World Bank. The lobby group co-founded by the U2 lead singer has knocked down media reports that he was a serious contender to head the global institution that provides billions of dollars annually to help the world's poorest countries.
'I can't believe I need to say this, but there are no circumstances in which Bono would be nominated or accept the World Bank job,' said Jamie Drummond, executive director of DATA - or Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa - for which the rocker campaigns to raise awareness of Africa's problems.
'Bono is flattered to be mentioned for such an important job but DATA does its best work from the outside,' he said.
Who will next lead the World Bank has been up in the air since former Wall Street investment banker James Wolfensohn announced in December he would leave the post when his term expires at the end of May.
Washington has always chosen the World Bank chief, traditionally an American, under an informal transatlantic deal with Europe, which picks the head of the International Monetary Fund. Developing nations want this process changed so choices are made based on qualifications, not nationality.
The 70-year-old Wolfensohn, an Australian who became American to take the job, was appointed by President Bill Clinton. President George W Bush's Treasury Department has said it now wants its own World Bank chief.
Global development experts and commentators have expressed surprise at the Bush administration's slow pace in naming a successor to Wolfensohn.
Some names tossed around by the media include former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, Michigan State University President Peter McPherson, Iowa Republican Congressman Jim Leach, US global AIDS coordinator Randall Tobias, and Treasury Undersecretary John Taylor.
Bono's name first surfaced for the job in a Los Angeles Times editorial last month that endorsed the rock star as a credible candidate, based on his effective lobbying on behalf of African development. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003.
The pro-Bono idea gathered global momentum - and a new twist - last weekend when US Treasury Secretary John Snow, who is part of the team helping to choose Wolfensohn's successor, told a US television network he admired the 44-year-old singer.
'He's in a way a rock star of the development world too. He understands the give-and-take of development. He's a very pragmatic, effective and idealistic person,' Snow said. But he added that the job would go to an American.
