8 - Idi Amin Idi Amin, controlled Uganda
for just 8 years. But during those 8 years, he managed to become one of the most brutal dictators
in African history. And not only was he violent and genocidal, but he was utterly insane as well.
Amin redirected most of the country's money to himself and the military. He was fine with
leaving the rest of the country in extreme poverty. Amin took so much of Uganda's money
for himself that by the time he was finally kicked out, inflation had gone up 1,000 percent.
As bad as that sounds, this was really the least of Uganda's problems while this lunatic
was running the show. When the United Kingdom broke off diplomatic relations with him in 1977,
Amin decided to take it as a personal victory. He gave himself the title
'Conqueror of the British Empire.' This was added to his lengthy title, which became:
His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, CBE,
Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror
of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular. We love Game of Thrones!
He also claimed to be the uncrowned King of Scotland. That would be pretty funny if he
hadn't also taken hundreds of thousands of lives. It was widely believed at the time
that Amin was a cannibal. However, Amin himself said that humans were too salty for his taste.
He enjoyed boasting that he had his political enemies in his freezer.
7 - Omar al-Bashir Omar al-Bashir was the head of Sudan
for 30 years until his reign came to an abrupt end thanks to a coup. He wasn't a popular guy.
Al-Bashir got elected in the first place because he most likely rigged the election. Then, he ended
up becoming the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court.
His time in office was filled with war, even though he vowed to end the civil
war when he got elected—a civil war that'd been going on for 21 years. Al-Bashir took
advantage of the chaos to loot the already impoverished nation of all the wealth it had
left. According to WikiLeaks, he sent 9 billion dollars to a secret London bank account.
Al-Bashir's big plan to help out Sudan and the entire continent of Africa was to create a space
agency. In 2012, he said that if Africa could all come together to make their own space agency,
it would liberate the continent from technological domination.
He never really explained how that would work or how that would help, for instance,
the ongoing civil war. This was either a desperate distraction or a sign that
he was truly delusional and out of touch. That $9 billion probably would have helped.
6 - Hosni Mubarak Hosni Mubarak was the
longest-serving president that Egypt ever had. He ran the country from 1981 to 2011.
During that time, he made a very suspicious amount of money. There's never been an official number,
but he was worth somewhere between 40 and 70 billion dollars, according to experts.
His massive fortune likely stems from corruption and bribes as well as legitimate business
activities. The money was spread out in different banks and properties all over the world. Usually,
people who make legitimate money don't have bank accounts in three countries,
including Switzerland.
Corruption skyrocketed during Mubarak's reign as president. Rival politicians and activists
who opposed him would be imprisoned without trial. He created illegal,
hidden prisons for his enemies. It became difficult to get a job at a university,
mosque, or newspaper if you had views that he didn't like. It's not too hard
to imagine someone who runs a country like this might be running some scams on the side.
In 2011, Switzerland froze his bank accounts and the accounts of anyone related to him.
A few years later, when Mubarak was out of office,
a court convicted him and his sons of embezzling 17.6 million dollars.
The money was supposed to be used for renovating and maintaining the presidential palace. Instead,
it was secretly used for upgrading private family mansions. Without presidential
authority to keep himself out of trouble, Mubarak was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
5 - Sani Abacha
Sani Abacha was a Nigerian general who became head of state after overthrowing the government
in a military coup. Under his rule, Nigeria made unprecedented economic advances. However, like the
fictional Nigerian princes from the internet, he also stole a lot of money from the people.
On the surface, things seemed to be going well. He increased Nigeria's foreign exchange
reserve to 9.6 billion dollars. He also reduced the country's debt by 9 billion,
and reduced the inflation rate down to 8.5%. That may seem pretty high,
but considering it had been hovering around 54%, it's actually amazing.
All that was good, but Abacha was also involved in some majorly corrupt activities.
Nigeria's main export is oil. When Abacha came to power, he took control of nearly all of it. The
country made about 10 billion a year from oil sales, and 80% of Nigerian government revenue
came from oil. Oil also turned out to be a great way for Abacha to make money.
He siphoned some of this oil revenue right into his own accounts. That revenue equated to 4
billion dollars stolen from the government. 4 billion is a lot of money in America,
but it's a ton in Nigeria, where the GDP per capita was less than 3,000 dollars.
4 - Dos Santos Family José Eduardo dos Santos
was the president of Angola for 38 years. And during those 38 years,
he pretty much ran the country like it was his personal investment fund. Under his rule,
Angola became one of the most corrupt countries in Africa. Even though most people in Angola live on
less than 2 dollars a day, Santos focused on other problems while he was in charge.
Issues such as making himself and his friends as rich as possible.
After the Angolan civil wars,
Santos took personal control of various emerging companies and industries. He was making so much
money that a leak exposed 400 companies involved in laundering it all for him.
Corruption runs in the family. Isabel dos Santos, his daughter, was the richest woman
in Africa at one point. Her net worth was over 2 billion dollars, according to Forbes. However,
they took her off the official list when her assets were frozen in Angola,
Portugal, and the Netherlands. This is because all of that money came from her father's government
scams. She currently owes a Portuguese company roughly 340 million dollars.
She's made the United Arab Emirates her official country of residence to avoid
being shipped back to Angola and going to jail. Their family stole from their starving people.
Check out our full video on the "former" richest woman in Africa and her corrupt
family here! 3 - Jacob Zuma
Jacob Zuma, a former president of South Africa, is currently at the center of a vast and messy
trial. He's facing criminal charges related to a corrupt Arms Deal his country made in 1999.
He's been in and out of court ever since. After all, it's harder to convict a former president
than to lock up some random civilian. Former presidents tend to have pretty good legal teams.
He's being charged with multiple counts of corruption, racketeering,
and money laundering. It all goes back to the 783 payments he received.
Those payments were most likely bribes from a French weapons company named Thales.
Before anyone claimed corrupt dealings were going down on the side, the arms deal was
very controversial. When he was president, Zuma spent billions of dollars on new fighter jets,
helicopters, submarines, and warships. Many South Africans saw this crazy military spending as
unnecessary, especially since the more pressing problem was that most of their people
lived in poverty. He took a page out of the United State's budget playbook
and increased defense spending even though they weren't at war with anyone.
There have only been two convictions in over 20 years. Tony Hengeni, who was a parliamentary whip,
was found guilty of fraud. He lied to parliament about a luxury car
discount from a company bidding on weapons contracts. Both were a bad look for Tony.
Financial advisor Schabir Shaik went to jail for 15 years after taking a bribe
on Zuma's behalf from an arms company. What a lot of South Africans really want,
however, is to see Zuma himself behind bars.
2 - Teodorin Nguema Obiang Teodorin Nguema Obiang, nicknamed Teodorín,
is the current vice president of Equatorial Guinea. He's been the vice president since 2012,
which should be the first indication that democracy isn't going according to plan
in Equatorial Guinea. He's the son of Teodoro Obiang, the de-facto dictator of the country.
When your dad runs the whole country, it's pretty easy to get a job. Teodorin
has held all kinds of government positions, including Minister of Agriculture and Forestry
and "Second Vice-President." Some people think it's a position his dad invented for him. It's
sort of like "assistant to the regional manager."
Teodorin is best known for his lavish and tax-payer-funded lifestyle. He's not super
involved in politics, but he does enjoy renting superyachts and having parties with rappers on
them. He also attracted a lot of criticism when he spent almost half a million dollars
in one weekend in South Africa. How does one manage to spend so much money
so fast? Well, champagne, two Bentleys, and a Lamborghini Murcielago can add up fast.
According to American agencies looking into Teodorin, most of, if not all,
of his wealth doesn't come from his official government salary. Most of it likely comes from
corrupt deals with the oil and gas companies that control the country's lucrative reserves.
This money could probably go a long way towards helping the actual
citizens of Equatorial Guinea. Still, cars are pretty neat too.
His spending finally caught up to him in 2007, when several organizations
filed criminal complaints against Teodorin, accusing his family of embezzling money to
spend on French luxury properties. For the next ten years, authorities seized
luxury cars from the Obiang family, including two Bugatti Veyrons, an Aston Martin,
and a Ferrari Enzo. 25 luxury cars were seized and auctioned off for $27 million.
In 2021, a French appeals court convicted Teodorin of embezzlement,
slapping him with a three-year suspended sentence. He'll never see the inside of a
jail cell, but he'll have to pay a 30 million euro fine.
1 - Mswati III Mswati III is the King
of Eswatini and head of the Swazi royal family. He became King in 1986 when he was only 18 years old.
Being an absolute ruler for his entire adult life hasn't left him with much
empathy and understanding for the people in the country he rules.
Mswati currently has 15 wives and 36 children. He got one of those 15 wives by kidnapping her from
high school, forcing her to marry him and live in the royal village forever. But what he's been
criticized for the most is his absurdly lavish lifestyle. In the country's 2014 national budget,
parliament allocated 61 million dollars for The King's annual household budget. Meanwhile,
63% of his subjects live on less than 2 dollars per day, and 40% are unemployed.
His purchase of a Maybach 62 for half a million dollars also got him into trouble with the media.
His solution wasn't to change his spending habits or reform anything. Instead, he made it illegal
for anyone to take pictures of the car. In 2004, the King requested 15 million from the government
so that he could redecorate some palaces and build some new ones for his wives. That same year
there were public protests against an expensive shopping spree that nine of his wives had gone on.
They pose on Instagram with high-end Mercedes and Porsches, cars they're forced to keep
in Dubai to hide them from the people of Eswatini. Meanwhile, Mswati doesn't seem
particularly worried that his country has one of the lowest average life expectancies in the world.
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And let us know in the comment section who’s the worst world leader in charge right now!