For the first time in May, President Obama tweeted from his personal account – The @POTUS account, “Hello, Twitter! It’s Barack. Really! Six years in, they’re finally giving me my own account.”
That was all he said.
That got us thinking how many African presidents and heads of state are on Twitter. Turns out there are quite a couple. From multiple dormant accounts to propaganda machines, here is how African presidents roll on the social soapbox that is Twitter.
We got game and we rule the joint
1. Paul Kagame, Rwanda, @Paulkagame
Rwanda’s Paul Kagame is the most popular African president on Twitter with 1.1 million followers on the verified handle. Paul Kagame has been described as Africa’s “Digital President.” It’s no surprise really. Internationally renowned leaders like Tony Blair, Bill CLinton and Rick Warren have voiced their respect for his “leadership skills.”
2. Paul Biya, Cameroon, @PR_Paul_Biya
Paul Biya is the current president of Cameroon. Okay, let me be more specific. Paul Biya has ruled Cameroon since 1982. Is he ever going to leave the seat? Who knows? In 2011, Cameroon’s government ordered MTN Cameroon to shut down access to Twitter to prevent the Twitter-engineered Arab spring that had just toppled Hosni Mubarak’s administration in Egypt. That sounds like a “No” to me. He has no verified twitter account, but of the five accounts attributed to him, @PR_Paul_Biya account has the most activity.
3. Alassane Quattara, Ivory Coast, @Presidenceci
Alassane Quattara has been in power since 2011. He has a personal handle, @adosolution, with 75,000 followers, but the verified, @Presidenceci account is more up to date with 10, 000 tweets since going live in 2011. His tweets are in French and it doesn’t appear like Quattara sends out any personal tweets, even on his personal account.
4. John D. Mahama, Ghana, @JDMaham
Mahama was Vice President to President John Atta Mills until the latter’s death in 2012. President Mahama joined Twitter in 2012 and has over 100,000 followers. His twitter account is verified. John Mahama’s following has increased more than tenfold since 2013 when he had only 11, 134 followers.
5. Jacob G. Zuma, South Africa, @SAPresident
Jacob Zuma assumed office in 2009 and was reelected in 2014. His verified account has over 300,000 followers. However, his most recent tweet went out in 2013. Zuma has been at the center of a protest that he pays back the money he spent on his KwaZulu-Natal mansion. The #PayBackTheMoney hashtag is currently trending in South Africa right now. There is, in fact, a Pay Back The Money song/video from Johannesburg-based rock band, @CrashCarBurn.
6. Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, @MBuhari
Nigeria’s newly inaugurated president, Muhammadu Buhari has over 200,000 followers on his verified personal @MBuhari handle. Another verified handle, @NGRPresident gained popularity during his inauguration on May 29, after it was used to livestream the ceremony on Periscope. Buhari effectively used the microblogging platform during his campaign for presidency. His daughter, Zahra Buhari broke the Nigerian internet last January at the peak of the campaigns when her modelling pictures came up online.
Vote for Buhari because a man who can father an angel. Is a man that can lead us to the promised land. #GMB2015 pic.twitter.com/mjBrd09Lxj
— Eche Enziga 🅰️🌶 (@Echecrates) January 13, 2015
7. Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya, @UKenyatta
Uhuru Kenyatta is Kenya’s fourth president and has been in office since April 2013. He has been on Twitter much longer, however, with an account he opened in 2010. The verified account has over a million followers. Uhuru got a bad rap on Kenyan Twitter last April after appointing what most Kenyans called #RecycledPoliticians into his new cabinet.
8. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egypt, @AlsisiOfficial
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is the current president of Egypt and has been in office since June 2014. The @AlsisiOfficial handle is unverified and has over 300,000 followers. President el-Sisi was the target of a 2014 Anti-Sisi Twitter campaign that opposed his run for Egypt’s presidency. Obviously, the campaign failed.
الرئيس الاندونيسي جوكويو ويدودو و الرئيس عبدالفتاح السيسي في ختام المؤتمر الصحفي المشتركhttps://t.co/Dk5G57qzuR pic.twitter.com/0A4IiA0OgQ
— Abdelfattah Elsisi (@AlsisiOfficial) September 5, 2015
9. Jakaya Kikwete, Tanzania, @jmkikwete
Jakaya Kikwete is Tanzania’s fourth President and has been in office since 2005. He joined Twitter in 2011, verified and tweets in both English and Swahili at his 300k plus followers. In 2014, he announced that the ancestral land of the Masai people, which had been the source of contestation, will not be converted into an exotic hunting ground for Arab royalty. Whether people believed it or not, is a story for the gods.
There has never been, nor will there ever be any plan by the Government of #Tanzania to evict the #Maasai people from their ancestral land.
— Jakaya Kikwete (@jmkikwete) November 23, 2014
10. Beji Caid Essebsi, Tunisia, @BejiCEOfficial
In December 2014, Essebsi won Tunisia’s first free presidential election since the 2011 Arab Spring. Unlike his predecessor, Moncef Marzouki, who has a verified account with over 300,000 followers, Essebsi’s account is still unverified, and has a little over 24,000 followers. Sounds like people still want their former president, if Twitter is anything to believe.
11. Yoweri Museveni, Uganda, @KagutaMuseveni
Yoweri Museveni has been Uganda’s President since 1986. His verified account tweets his activities and opinions to 145k followers. @StateHouseUg also appears to be the official Uganda State House account. Earlier in 2015, two Communications students at Makerere University designed a mobile app, Reach the President, to operate as a direct link to the President. Museveni never did sign off on the app and nothing has been heard of it since the launch.
12. Macky Sall, Senegal, @macky_sall
The unverified twitter handle of the president reflects the activities of his administration in Senegal. The account was opened in 2010 and has over 70,000 followers.
13. Hage Geingob, Namibia, @hagegeingob
He joined twitter in 2014. The handle is unverified but it captures activities of the president and his personal opinion on social and political issues. 13k followers.
14. Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Mali, @IBK_2013
The most recent tweet from President Ibrahim’s unverified account was in 2014 and has a little over 5, 000 followers. The handle was very active during the campaign leading up to Mali’s July 2013 election, but went silent afterwards. Let’s wait till the next elections then.
I got game, but it’s weak
15. Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe, @MugabeR
Robert Mugabe’s bluntness with words, regardless of who’s listening, makes him the perfect match for Twitter. So color me shocked that his Twitter account is not verified, was opened in 2009 and the last tweet on the handle is from August. 2009! President Mugabe was the butt of internet jokes last February after images of him falling over surfaced on the internet. The image was memed to death with the #MugabeFalls hashtag.
https://twitter.com/MollyDenmark/status/563354302790770689
16. Peter Mutharika, Malawi, @ProfMutharika
His twitter account is unverified. He had tweeted a few times during the campaign trail but has since left the account dormant since he became president.
17. Filipe Nyusi, Mozambique @FilipeNyusi
There are two Twitter handles to his name; @FNyusi and @FilipeNyusi. Both accounts have been dormant since he became president of the country earlier in 2015. Anyone noticing the “M” trend? Mali, Malawi, Mozambique….
18. Hery Rajaonarimampianina, Madagascar, @PresidenceMada
I wager that only three people exist who can spell Mr Hery’s name without errors – his parents and him. Cheap shot, I know but…. look at that name. Anyways, his twitter account is unverified, but it states that it is the official account of the presidency; it has a little over 2,500 followers. Rajaonarimampianina, everyone copies and pastes that, is currently facing impeachment from the Malagasy parliament and may vacate the presidency. I guess Madagascar isn’t all safaris and talking penguins, eh?
19. Pierre Nkurunziza, Burundi, @PierreNkurunziz
Mr Pierre has been president since 2005 and is currently seeking a controversial third term bid. The unverified account has over 4000 followers. The accounts bio indicates that tweets from the president are signed “PN”.
20. Denis Sassou Nguesso, Republic of Congo, @SassouCG
President since 1997. Unverified. 3000 followers and tweets are in French.
21. Catherine Samba-Panza, Central African Republic, @CathySambaPanza
Catherine Samba-Panza is the interim president of the Central African Republic and the first woman to hold the post. She was former Mayor of Bangui that came to head the country at the height of its inter-communal unrest in 2014. The account has just 353 followers. OK, I’m going to say what you’re thinking. This is just too weak.
22. Ikililou Dhoinine, Comoros, @dhoinine
There are two Twitter accounts in Ikililou Dhoinine’s name; @dhoinine and @idhoinine with a combined followership of 122. Things get worse from here people. Prepare to see less and less game.
23. Idriss Déby Itno, Chad, @ID_Itno
Idriss Déby Itno has been in power since 1990. The president’s unverified account has just 10 tweets and 244 followers. Told you.
24. Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, Djibouti, @IOGpr11
President since 1999. Unverified multiple accounts – @iogpr11 and @ioguelleh.
25. Isaias Afwerki, Eritrea, @IsaiasAfewerki
President since the country’s independence in 1993. 80 followers and one tweet. OK, this is getting ridiculous.
26. Ali Bongo Ondimba, Gabon, @PresidentABO
President since 2009. Joined Twitter in February 2015. Verified and has over 2000 followers. Okay, not bad.
27. Joseph Kabila Kabange, Democratic Republic of the Congo @President_RDC
There are three twitter accounts with the President of DRC’s name. Of the three, the @president_rdc seems the most probable but the last tweet went out 5 years ago. I’m as confused as you are.
28. Ian Khama, Botswana, @IanKhamaAF
Ian Khama is Botswana’s president and has no verified Twitter account. There are at least three accounts to his name with less than a thousand followers each.
29. Jorge Carlos Fonseca, Cape Verde, @PresidenteCV
Mr Fonseca has two unverified twitter accounts to his name. The first account which has just 230 followers last tweeted in 2013 while the other account which has about 800 followers is still active.
30. Michel Kafando, Burkina Faso, @MichelKafando
Michel Kafando has been the transitional president of Burkina Faso since 2014. He has two handles, the most engaging being the @michelkafando handle. Both accounts have less than 300 followers each though.
31. Alpha Condé, Guinea @Pr_Alpha_Conde
Alpha Condé has no verifiable twitter account. However, there is one with over a thousand followers and it tweeted last in 2013.
32. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria, @bouteflikka
Abdelaziz Bouteflika is Algeria’s current president. Mr. Bouteflika has been in power since 1999. It was doubtful that he’d win a fourth term in 2014 following street protests but he did. There are at least three twitter accounts associated with him; @imbouteflika, @abde_bouteflika and @bouteflikka; all parody accounts.
Everyone that claims the Gaddafies arrived to #Algeria today are a bunch of liars. I've had them for a week now.
— 阿月侃侃（有fo必回） (@ImBouteflika) August 30, 2011
33. Mahamadou Issoufou, Niger, @MahamadouIssouf
The twitter account was opened in 2012 but hasn’t tweeted anything in two years. With just 16 tweets he has over a thousand followers. Makes you wonder how many he’d have if he got to a thousand.
34. Ernest Bai Koroma, Sierra Leone, @ebkoroma
There are two Twitter handles in his name. Although unverified, one is his personal account while the other is run by his staff. Both accounts have been inactive for a while i.e. 2013. 600+ followers.
35. Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, Somalia, @SOPresident
Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud is the president of Somalia. There is one Twitter account to the President’s name, managed by the Director of the Office of the Somali Governmental Information Technology. The account is active with just over 3000 followers.
36. Salva Kiir Mayardit, South Sudan, @PresidentKiir
Salva Kiir Mayardit has been the President of South Sudan since the country’s split from Sudan in 2011. The unverified Twitter handle tweets on educating South Sudanese and has less than a hundred followers. Kiir’s trademark 10-gallon Stetson hat was a gift from the former United States President, George W. Bush when he visited the White House in 2006 as the Vice President of unified Sudan. Whew! What a mouthful.
We have no game whatsoever…
Sudan, Omar al-Bashir
Swaziland, Mswati III
Togo, Faure Gnassingbé
Seychelles, James Michel
São Tomé and Príncipe, Manuel Pinto da Costa
Lesotho, Letsie III
Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
Mauritius, Rajkeswur Purryag
Morocco, Mohammed VI
Guinea-Bissau, José Mário Vaz
Ethiopia, Mulatu Teshome
Angola, José Eduardo dos Santos
Zambia, Edgar Lungu
Benin, Thomas Boni Yayi
Libya, Abdullah al-Thani (Prime Minister)
Gambia, Yahya Jammeh
Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
