Mwai Kibaki
Position: President of Kenya
Age: 78
Time in Power: 7 years
Kibaki studied at Makerere University in Uganda before being awarded a scholarship to the London School of Economics where he graduated top in his class. He was active in the Kenyan struggle for independence from the U.K. before the country's independence in 1963. In 1974, TIME ranked him among the top 100 individuals with the potential to lead. When he was elected to power in a 2002 landslide victory, he vowed to end the government corruption that had ruined the country's economy. However, after his narrow election victory in 2007, he was accused of rigging the election and protests resulted in widespread violence between Kenya's many ethnic groups. A few months after the election, Kibaki and Raila Odinga, the leader of the opposition, signed a power-sharing plan that gave Odinga the newly created position of Prime Minister.