10 long serving African leaders

10 African leaders who had been in power for over two decades.

I culled this from Charles Onyango Obbo’s article in his column: “An ear to the ground” running in the Monitor newspaper of 30 September 2009.

•Gabon’s Omar Bongo topped the league at 40 years.


•A hair’s breadth behind was Gaddafi at 39 years.


 

•Angola’s Eduardo Dos Santos was third at 29 years.


•The one and only Comrade Robert Mugabe, was  fourth, having been at the helm, with very disastrous consequences since 1994, for 28 years.


•In fifth, came Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. By last year, he had logged 27 years.


•Sixth was Cameroon’s ever-absent Paul Biya at 26 years. Biya lives mostly in France, and returns home to rig the vote, and then go back to France. In that regard, he is the most innovative leader in the world.


•Seventh was Congo Republic’s Denis Sassou Nguesso. You have to count Nguesso’s two terms. He first seized power in a 1979 coup, but lost the country’s first multi-party elections in 1992 after 13 years. He snatched the job back in 1997 after a brief, but bloody civil war and was “re-elected” in 2004 for a further seven-year term, so by last year he had put in another 11 years. In all, 24 years.


•Nguesso tied with Guinea’s President Lansana Conte, who had also logged 24 years.


•Our very own beloved President Museveni was right there in the premier long-ruling league, notching a respectable 22 years, which gave him eighth place.


•Bringing up the tail was the reformist but steely-handed Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, at 21 years.


Conte died at the end of 2008, and Bongo’s lights finally went out this year in June. That left eight members of the Premier Political Club alive.