Africa’s Richest Presidents

King of Morocco, Mohammed VI (Net worth: $2.5 billion)

TRACKING>>Mohammed VI of Morocco has been ranked as the current richest leader in Africa with the estimated net worth of $2.5 billion.

Mohammed who was born on 21 August, 1963, is a member of the Alaouite dynasty and ascended to the throne on 23 July 1999 upon the death of his father, King Hassan II, and remains the King till date.

Also, he is believed to be one of the most educated leaders in Africa, obtaining different degrees from different prestigious institutions worldwide due to his background of being raised in a wealthy family combined with power and royalty.

Shortly after he took the throne, Mohammed VI addressed his nation via television, promising to take on poverty and corruption, while creating jobs and improving Morocco’s human rights record.

Mohammed’s reformist rhetoric was opposed by Islamist conservatives, and some of his reforms angered fundamentalists. In February 2004, he enacted a new family code, or Mudawana, which granted women more power.

Mohammed also created the so-called Instance Equité et Réconciliation (IER), which was tasked with researching human rights violations under Hassan II. This move was welcomed by many as promoting democracy, but was also criticized because reports of human rights violations could not name the perpetrators.

Gabonese President, Ali Bongo Ondimba (Net worth: $2 billion)

Ali Bongo is ranked as the second richest president in Africa with an estimated net worth of $2 billion. Ali Bongo was born on 9 February, 1959, and has been ruling Gabon since October 2009. Gabon has been ranked the fifth largest oil producer in Africa.

Ali Bongo is the son of Omar Bongo, who was President of Gabon from 1967 until his death in 2009.

During his father’s presidency, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1989 to 1991 and represented Bongoville as a Deputy in the National Assembly from 1991 to 1999; subsequently he was Minister of Defense from 1999 to 2009.

Following his father’s death after 41 years in power, he was first elected in the August 2009 presidential election. He was re-elected in August 2016, in elections marred by numerous irregularities, arrests, human rights violations and post-election violence.

President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (Net worth: $600 million)

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has amassed enormous wealth estimated to be worth $600 million through decades of leadership as the president of Equatorial Guinea.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who was born 5 June, 1942 has been President of Equatorial Guinea since 1979.

He ousted his uncle, Francisco Macías Nguema, in an August 1979 military coup and has overseen Equatorial Guinea’s emergence as an important oil producer, beginning in the 1990s. Obiang was Chairperson of the African Union from 31 January 2011 to 29 January 2012. He is the second longest-serving non-royal national leader in the world, after Paul Biya of Cameroon.

Obiang has been widely accused of corruption and abuse of power. In marked contrast to the trend toward democracy in most of Africa, Equatorial Guinea is currently a dominant-party state, in which Obiang’s Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) holds virtually all governing power in the nation. The constitution provides Obiang sweeping powers, including the right to rule by decree.

Rwandan President, Paul Kagame (Net worth: $500 million)

Paul Kagame is one of those who have achieved wealth through political power in Africa. He is reportedly one of the most famous African Presidents, which earned him the opportunity to be elected as the current Chairperson of the African Union.

Paul Kagame, who was born on 23 October, 1957, is a former military leader. He is currently the President of Rwanda, having taken office in 2000 when his predecessor, Pasteur Bizimungu, resigned.

Kagame previously commanded the rebel force that ended the 1994 Rwandan genocide. He was considered Rwanda’s de facto leader when he served as Vice President and Minister of Defence from 1994 to 2000. He was re-elected in August 2017 with an official result of nearly 99% in an election criticized for numerous irregularities. He has been described as the “most impressive” and “among the most repressive” African leaders.

Kagame was born to a Tutsi family in southern Rwanda. When he was two years old, the Rwandan Revolution ended centuries of Tutsi political dominance; his family fled to Uganda, where he spent the rest of his childhood.

In the 1980s, Kagame fought in Yoweri Museveni’s rebel army, becoming a senior Ugandan army officer after Museveni’s military victories carried him to the Ugandan presidency. Kagame joined the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which invaded Rwanda in 1990. RPF leader Fred Rwigyema died early in the war and Kagame took control.

By 1993, the RPF controlled significant territory in Rwanda and a ceasefire was negotiated. The assassination of Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana set off the genocide, in which Hutu extremists killed an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu. Kagame resumed the civil war, and ended the genocide with a military victory.

Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta ( Net worth: $500 million)

Unlike others, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta amassed wealth through his real estate business. He’s reported to own land of over 500, 000 acres in Kenya. In addition to his present sources of income, President Kenyatta also has shares in Kenyan media companies, hotels, banks among others.

Uhuru Kenyatta, who was born on 26 October, 1961 is a Kenyan businessman who is the fourth and current President of the Republic of Kenya. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gatundu South from 2002 to 2013. Currently, the party leader and a member of the Jubilee Party of Kenya, he was previously involved with The National Alliance and before that the Kenya African National Union.

He is the son of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first President, and his fourth wife Mama Ngina Kenyatta. Uhuru was re-elected for a second term in the August 2017 general election, winning 54 percent of the popular vote.

Uhuru is the son of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s founding father and the first president of the republic of Kenya (in office 1964–1978), with his fourth wife, Mama Ngina Kenyatta. His family hails from the Kikuyu, a Bantu ethnic group. His given name “Uhuru” is from the Swahili term for “freedom”, and was given to him in anticipation of Kenya’s upcoming independence. Uhuru attended St Mary’s School in Nairobi. Between 1979 and 1980, he also briefly worked as a teller at the Kenya Commercial Bank.

After St. Mary’s school, Uhuru went on to study economics, political science and government at Amherst College in the United States. Upon his graduation, Uhuru returned to Kenya, and started a company Wilham Kenya Limited, through which he sourced and exported agricultural produce.

Uhuru was nominated to Parliament in 2001; he became Minister for Local Government under President Daniel Arap Moi and, despite his political inexperience, was favoured by Moi as his successor. Kenyatta ran as KANU’s candidate in the December 2002 presidential election, but lost to the opposition candidate Mwai Kibaki by a big margin.

He subsequently became Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. He backed Kibaki for re-election in the December 2007 presidential election and was named Minister of Local Government by Kibaki in January 2008, before becoming Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade in April 2008 as part of a coalition government.

Subsequently, Kenyatta was Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2012, while remaining Deputy Prime Minister. Accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of committing crimes against humanity in relation to the violent aftermath of the 2007 election, he resigned as Minister of Finance on 26 January 2012. He was elected as President of Kenya in the March 2013 presidential election, defeating Raila Odinga with a slim majority in a single round of voting.