The richest people in Africa are not just business men but African presidents and one thing that is certain in this continent is there exists a lot of corrupt African leaders who are presidents in their respective countries and have over the years amassed wealth and riches from their countries natural resources.
Africa which as one of the continents in the world contains several nations who have their respective heads that presides over the affairs of the country. In this article, we would look at the worth of these Presidents and evaluate which one is the richest.
Thus, here is a rundown of the richest Presidents in Africa this 2021, starting from the one that ranks first. The rating here is based on research from top statistics with reference to Forbes and Celebrity NetWorth, to rate these leaders.
Top Richest Presidents in Africa
While these Africa’s richest leaders earn millions or even billions monthly, those who they rule suffer in abject poverty. Unfortunately, democracy hardly thrives in this part of the world as these wealthy men are political dictators who either rule for life by self imposition or pass down the seat of power to their children as if it is their inheritance.
In no particular order, here are the top richest African presidents, their salaries and their estimated net worth according to Forbes.
King Mohammed VI Net Worth $2.5 Billion
King Mohammed of Morocco is the richest African president 2021 who is worth an estimated $2.5 Billion according to Forbes. He succeeded his father, Hassan II to the throne. He is also called the president of Morocco.
First in our list is the Morrocan Monarch equally the president of the country. He was birthed December 1963 in Rabat, the capital of Morocco. He has been ruling the north African country for a long time and checking, the position he rose to because of the demise of his dad, King Hassan II.
Mohammed is the most educated president in Africa acquiring various degrees from various institutions worldwide because of his experience of been brought up in a well off family joined with force and eminence.
Aside from being one of the wealthiest African leaders, Mohammed VI also is one of the most educated African presidents who has enough degrees and honours to his credit. Having completed his first primary and secondary studies at Royal College, he attained his Baccalaureate in 1981. He furthered his education at the University at Agdal where he earned a bachelor’s degree in law.
Mohammed had his PhD in law with distinction in 1993 from the prestigious French University of Nice and has occupied various top positions including serving in the military prior to his venture into politics and ascension to the throne.
Forbes ranked Mohammed VI in 2015 as Morocco’s leading businessman and banker. The monarch is involved in real estate, banking, agriculture, oil exploration among other foreign investments which runs into billions of US dollars. He is the leading distributor of Heineken in Africa, a well known beer brand. It is claimed that he receives a salary of $480,000 per annum as the president of Morocco.
President Paul Biya Net Worth $200 million
Paul Biya is the current president of Cameroon who entered office since 1982 and has been serving till date. He is one of the richest presidents in Africa with an estimated net worth of $200 million.
Biya has entered the list of longest ruling non-royal head of states in the world. His reign in his country isn’t democratic as Cameroonians are growing tired of his policies which are draconian in nature. The opposition party and press in Cameroon have also been muzzled as arrests and death threat have been reported to be on a high in Paul Biya’s country.
Although, his basic salary might be low which puts him among the low earning presidents in Africa, the bonuses and allowances he earns makes him the highest paid African president. We give a breakdown of what he earns monthly and annually in the subsequent paragraph below.
Biya earns a monthly basic salary of £200 that is about $2,590 annually. This does not include other premiums and fees of sovereignty. In addition to his salary, £1,200 is also given to him per month which totals $15,541 yearly for housing and transportation
It would shock you that Paul Biya’s monthly allowances for sovereignty has been allegedly put to $591,871.68 annually which sums up the kind of leader he claims to be. Another $610,002 enters his pockets minus other allowances we don’t know about, yet his people lavish in abject poverty
Biya is the oldest ruler in Sub-Saharan Africa after former dictator Robert Mugabe stepped down following the Zimbabwean coup d’état. Biya lives an expensive lifestyle and has houses, investments and business scattered around the world.
President Biya is the most richest man in Cameroon and has been the President of Cameron since 1982 which is now a 38 years span in office. It was accounted that Biya carries on with a costly and luxurious way of life and on excursions also spending about $40,000 on settlements alone.
All the more, he has houses, ventures, and organizations in various nations around the globe. He is said to be totalitarian as opposed to popularity based in his authority style and the residents are getting wearied of him.
Nevertheless, President Biya is one of the richest head of state in Africa.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika Net Worth $6 million
Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been the Algerian president since 1999 till date ruling for over 5 terms due to constitutional amendments. He has been rated as one of the highest paid African presidents by Forbes earning a salary of $168,000 and has occupied various political positions even before he became head of state.
Abdelaziz Bouteflika has assets and investments both in his country and also abroad. He hasn’t made any public appearance since December 2017 where he presided over a cabinet meeting with his new government as shown on Algerian state television.
The Economist in one of their reports suggests that Bouteflika has been confined to a wheelchair due to illness. He has since refused to relinquish power. Abdelaziz Bouteflika is said to have a financial worth of $6 million.
President Uhuru Kenyatta Net Worth $500 million
Uhuru Kenyatta is the current President of the Republic of Kenya and also one of the richest presidents in Africa. He took over from his father who was the former head of state. Prior to his emergence as president, he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gatundu South from 2002 to 2013.
President Kenyatta who is a previous priest turned president collect huge piece of his riches in the land business owning place where there is more than 500,000 sections of land in Kenya. Notwithstanding his wellsprings of pay, President Uhuru additionally has stakes (shares) in Kenyan media organizations, inns, banks among others. This makes him a millionaire and ranks as one of the richest president in Africa.
He also served as Kenya’s Deputy Prime Minister to his father, Jomo Kenyatta. At this period, he amassed untold wealth, owning countless investments and large companies in the country and overseas.
Some of the investments owned by Kenyatta include: 500,000 acres of fertile land within Kenya’s choicest areas country. Uhuru also owns Brookside Dairies, the largest diary company in Kenya among others. His estimated net worth is put at $500 million.
Kenyatta’s takes home $132,000 every year as salary, although he took a pay cut and has since been touted as one of Africa’s president that earns a low salary even if it does not include other allowances and bonuses accrued to being the number one citizen of the land.
President Joseph Kabila Net Worth $70 million
Joseph Kabila Kabange took over from his father President Laurent-Désiré Kabila as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2001 after he was assassinated. He is also among the highest paid African leaders with an annual salary of $110,000.
Joseph Kabila Kabange is a Congolese politician who has many investments in his country. Since he took over his father’s role as president, Joseph Kabila has faced continuous wars in eastern Congo which has led to the weakening of his government.
Democratic Republic of Congo’s president, Joseph Kabila Kabange despite everything also make the list of the most extravagant African pioneers. In 2001, He took over from his late dad President Laurent-Désiré Kabila who was killed. He is accepted to have numerous interests in Congo.
One of the difficulties Joseph Kabila has been confronting is the nonstop yet to end wars in the Eastern part of Congo which has prompted the debilitating of his administration. Notwithstanding all these, he is one of the richest president in the continent.
Kabila announced that he will not re-contest in the next general elections and would step down step down. His estimated worth is $70 million.
President Paul Kagame Net Worth $500 million
Paul Kagame is an African politician from Rwanda who ranks among the richest African presidents with an estimated net worth of $500 million. Born in Tambwe, Ruanda-Urundi in December 1957, he is the fourth and current President of Rwanda having entered office in 2000 after Pasteur Bizimungu resigned.
President Kagame who was born in Ruanda-Urundi on 23rd December 1957 was a warrior in the Armed Forces before entering government, and thusly one of his essential demonstration was his inclusion to help put an end the Rwandan Genocides in 1994, he had the option to accomplish this fit since he was as a pioneer of the Rwandan Patriotic Front that attacked Rwanda to end the killings by Hutus of Tutsis. Meanwhile, the African leader is rated as one of the richest president with a good amount as net worth.
It was Kagame’s military exploits that helped end the genocide that took place in Rwanda. As a politician, he was former vice president, and has occupied various political positions before he became head of state. Since his emergence into power, Rwanda’s economy has significantly improved. Paul Kagame’s salary as a president is $85,000.
Financial Times in 2012 published a report that Paul Kagame allegedly control a vast majority of the Rwandan economy alongside his family via a holding company named “Crystal Ventures”. He is also among the few African leaders who own a private jet which he bought $50 million.
President Isaias Afwerki Net Worth $210 million
Isaias Afwerki has been the president of Eritrea since the country’s independence in 1993. He has been touted to be operating a draconian style of government since leading the Eritrean people as their head.
Under his watch, human’s rights violations by the United Nations and Amnesty International has been recorded, no wonder there is hardly an opposition party in his country. As expected, the nation’s finance are under his watch so he has a lot of money.
Eritrean president, Isaias Afwerki is also among the most richest president in Africa. President Afwerki is the main leader of Eritrea since he has been directing the nation since they picked up autonomy in 1993. His administration quality has been addressed as a result of how the guidelines utilizing a draconian style of government.
This report is sponsored with charges of human rights infringement by the United Nations and Amnesty International. He regulates the country’s account making him have a lot of cash causing him to be on this list regardless of the abysmal condition of his nation.
Isaias Afwerki is said to worth an estimated $210 million.
President Abdel Fattah Elsisi Net Worth $30 million
Abdel Fattah Elsisi is a politician from Egypt who is the current President of Egypt. He is also ranked as one of Africa’s wealthy leaders with a net worth estimated at $30 million.
President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has an annual salary of $70,400 and is also one of the highest paid African presidents.
President Ali Bongo Ondimba Net Worth $2 billion
Ali Bongo Ondimba is the current President of Gabon. He assumed office since December 2009. His salary is said to be $65,000 yearly aside the allowances accrued to his office as head of state.
Gabon has been ranked the fifth largest oil producer in Africa and so the country has largely depended on oil. While poverty still ravage the people of Gabon, Daily Mail reported that the president spent $129 million for a mansion in Paris.
It is unsurprising as Ali Bongo’s net worth which is estimated at $2 billion makes him one of the richest presidents in Africa.
President Ondimba is one of the richest president in the continent, obviously the second, and he has been ruling Gabon for a long time now having accepted into office from December 2009 till date. Gabon has been positioned the fifth-biggest oil producer in Africa.
In this way, the nation relies generally upon unrefined petroleum exportation. However, destitution is as yet a matter of worry in the nation as the individuals of Gabon Ali live beneath the neediness line, it was likewise announced by Daily Mail that the president used a sum of $129 million for a manor in Paris.
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo Net worth $600 million
President Teodoro of Equatorial Guinea was born on fifth December 1954 to Santiago Nguema Eneme (father) and María Mbasogo Ngui (mother) in Acoacán, Guinea. For a long time and checking, President Teodoro has been administering Equatorial Guinea, the office he involved after a military upset ousting his uncle from office in 1979 out of a military coup.
An enormous piece of his riches is accepted to have been procured through plundering and pillaging the oil-rich country. A nation despite everything enduring wretched destitution by the greater part of its residents living beneath the neediness line on the grounds that the president imparts none of the nation’s riches to the residents.
The report has it that his child has followed in his progression; living sumptuously in a $35-million home implicit Malibu and having three Buggati Verona costing $1.7-million. These has been issues for the president, but that aside he is one of the richest president in the continent.
President Hage Geingob Net Worth $111 million
The Namibian president is on the list as one of richest in the continent. President Geingob openly pronounce his significant net worth when evaluated, it was an approximated to be $111 million.
The President’s worth of pays beside his normal pay and stipends incorporate speculations, properties, animals. His riches incorporates a $2-million workmanship assortment, gold, diamonds, gems, and furnitures which makes him one of the richest head of state in Africa.
Ruler Mswati III of Swaziland Net Worth $100 million
Swaziland is a landlocked entity situated in Southern Africa. Their president, Mswati is the eight richest President in Africa and he has been in office for more than 30 years. Regardless of the way that over 60% of her populace living underneath the neediness line($1.25) every day, King Mswati still spends sumptuously and lives lavishly in the midst of analysis. He is hitched to 15 spouses each living in her own costly loft.
President Mswati worth properties includes 13 royal residences, armadas of Mercedes and BMW vehicles including at any rate one Rolls Royce and a $500,000 Decemberbach 62. To add to his assortment is a personal jet that is evaluated to cost $17 million and was guessed to have been bought with open assets.
Conclusion
This has been the top richest African Presidents. An overview of the rundown, it is despicable that the greater part of the head of states here rule countries confronting downturn in the economy, government assistance and prosperity of the individuals isn’t up to standard in their respective countries. So what could be made to find some kind of balance by having these corrupt African leaders?