Mugabe, World Class Dictator

Undoubtedly, my all-time favorite dictator is Mr. Robert Gabriel Mugabe. If you look up dictator who rules with his giant incompetent iron fist in the dictionary, Robert Mugabe's picture would be right there. For those who are not familiar with Mr. Mugabe, he is the "President" of Zimbabwe and has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980. Mugabe has worked hard to become the greatest dictator of today by creating the weakest economy in the world and scaring away any political opponents with violence. Kim Jong-il and Mahmud Ahmadinejad may get the hot press, but Mugabe is personally my favorite.

My favorite accomplishment by Mugabe is his ability to turn Zimbabwe previously respectable economy into an economy with such high inflation and such low per capita GDP that my jaw drops every time I see the statistics. How did Mugabe accomplish this, well he forced out every experienced farmer in the country and replaced them with inexperienced native farmers. Farming was the backbone to the Zimbabwe economy and when inevitably the new farmers could not grow crops they had shortages of food and little product to import to other countries. On top of this Mugabe printed hundred of trillions of dollars in Zimbabwe currency, which is just asking for ridiculously high inflation. Zimbabwe has been in a state of hyperinflation, climaxing in July of 2008 with inflation at 11,200,000%. Just to compare, the U.S.'s inflation is about 5%. I'm still not sure how this is possible, but the stats don't lie. Also Zimbabwe's GDP per capita is at $55. Which means the average person in Zimbabwe makes about $55 a year, less than half of the next closest (Burundi with $128).

So why is Mugabe still in power, in Zimbabwe they have a "democratic process". Well earlier this year Zimbabwe held a presidential election. And Mugabe lost receiving 43.2% of the vote compared to Morgan Tsvangirai with 47.9% of the vote. But we forgot Mugabe is a dictator and if he knows how to do anything, it is staying in power. So a run-off election is held. And Tsvangirai was forced to withdraw from the run-off in fear of his supporters being killed if they voted for him. So Mugabe was the only participating candidate on the ballot and won the run of with 85.5% of the vote.

So my man Mugabe is not done yet and don't think that he is past his dictatorial prime, because I figure he still has a few tricks up his sleeve.