5 Leaders Who Destroyed Their Own Nation

5. Kamuzu Banda - Malawi

Born: Akim Kamnkhwala Mtunthama Banda 15 February 1899
Died: 25 November 1997 (aged 98) Johannesburg, South Africa
Religion: Presbyterian (Church of Scotland)

Hastings Kamuzu Banda was the ruler of Malawi and its predecessor state from 1966 to 1994 as Prime minister. He declared Malawi a “one-party” state in 1966 and fired anybody around him who tried to counsel. Many of his opponents fled to exile. Banda was infamous for maintain diplomatic relations with Apartheid- era South Africa. The National Assembly stripped him of all powers in 1993. He died four years later. 

4. Prince Jefri Bolkiah

Born: 6 November 1954 (age 63)
Istana Darul Hana, Kampong Tumasek, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
Religion: Sunni Islam

He literally sent his company to bankruptcy. He was Brunei’s royal playboy, who apart from managing the state, lived life large and at the expense of his subjects. When his debts got the better of him, amongst the personal artifacts that were put up for auction, there was a golden toilet paper roll holder. He is a live example of how one man can send an entire country to the auctioneer.

3.  Idi Amin Dada – Uganda

Born: Idi Dada
c. 1923–1928 Koboko, Uganda Protectorate
Died: 16 August 2003 (aged 74–80) Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Nationality: Ugandan

What’s more, he has been described as the “Butcher of Uganda”! One of the world’s most notorious dictators, Idi Amin was the third President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He conferred on himself the title of “His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular”. He joined the British Colonial regiment in 1946 and eventually rose to the rank of Major-General. Idi Amin seized power in the military coup of 1971 ousting Milton Obote.

2. Mobutu Sese Seko – Zaire/ Congo

Born: Joseph-Desiré Mobutu
14 October 1930 Lisala, Belgian Congo 
Died: 7 September 1997 (aged 66)
Rabat, Morocco
Nationality: Congolese

He was the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1965 to 1997. He amassed huge personal fortune while in office and maintained an anti-Communist stand throughout. He added “Nkuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga“ to his name that literally meant “the all-powerful warrior who, because of his endurance and inflexible will to win, will go from conquest to conquest leaving fire in his wake”. He was overthrown in the First Congo War and died in exile.

1. Adolf Hitler

Born: 20 April 1889
Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary

Died: 30 April 1945 (aged 56)

Berlin, Nazi Germany

A name that is enough to betray what people felt for him. A ruler/ leader of insane and unfounded beliefs led his country into the Second World War and then finally committed suicide. Wars that ravaged the entire country twice over tore apart the population and for obvious reasons gave rise to hatred against him. Hitler did have loyal followers who believed in his ideology and they committed suicide with him on the last leg of the Second World War. But he was a master statesman and his bestselling book Mein Kampf gave others clarity on what the policies of politics should be.