Abdoulaye Wade – President of Senegal
Swelling westwards into the Atlantic, the Republic of Senegal is a tropical democracy whose president’s age is shrouded in mystery. Officially, Abdoulaye Wade was born in 1926, but it is rumoured that he may have been born much earlier. Nevertheless, he did not become head of state until 2000, and he has clung to power long enough to be assured of his place amongst the World Leaders in Underpants.
Wade’s legacy will probably be the £16 million African Renaissance Monument, a 160ft bronze statue in the Stalinist style depicting a family emerging from a Dakar mountaintop. It is either a heroic symbol of post-apartheid Africa, or an economic monstrosity representing the worst excesses of leadership. The fact that it was built by a North Korean construction company suggests the latter.
Local religious leaders have taken issue with the semi-nudity of monument, and they’ll be no happier to see Wade himself similarly disrobed as he joins his immodest peers here.
