Are All Heads Of State This Incompetent?

February 15, 2006 4:33 PM by Tim Swanson (Archive)

Valentine's Fall From Power:

Few have gained such power, then fallen so hard, as Valentine Strasser. The year is 1992 and Sierra Leone is in a state of civil war. Valentine Strasser was only a captain in the Sierra Leone army when it marched into the capital and demanded better treatment. The demonstration turned into a coup, and in the end Strasser found himself the head of state of a group of junior army officers calling themselves the National Provisional Ruling Council. At the age of 25, this made Strasser the world's youngest head of state.

Unfortunately, Strasser proved to be a failure as a head of state. His party was unsuccessful in ending the civil war, and Strasser lost much of his approval after hiring a mercenary firm from South Africa to fight for him. Then, in 1996, Strasser was removed from power in a mostly bloodless coup, and was forced to leave the country - giving him his second world record as the youngest head of state to be removed from power.

As if this fall from power was not bad enough, Strasser proved he could be just as ineffective after leaving the country. He began to go to the University of Warwick in England, as set up by the UN, though he discontinued his studies within a year. Though he'd stolen some funds while in Sierra Leone, he took very little with him out of the country and the government would not give him the money they normally give to former heads of state since he was never elected. He was eventually discovered in England, and there were calls to deport him. In the end, he moved back to Sierra Leone, and he is now unemployed and living with his mother.

Just remember, without the State, armed gangs would force you to pay tribute to fund their machinations... to prevent rival gangs from forcing you to pay someone else's tribute.