(New York) Zimbabwe
is in a mess and the rot started under the leadership of President Robert
Mugabe when he assumed power in 1987. Since then, his economic policies of
robbing the rich to feed his bank balance has seen the country devolve into the
stone age.
Between 2000 to 2007, the economy shrank by 50%, in Sept
2007 the inflation rate stood at almost 8,000%, the world's highest. There were
frequent power and water outages. Harare's drinking water became unreliable in
2006 and as a consequence dysentery and cholera swept the city in December 2006
and January 2007. Unemployment in formal jobs ran at a record 80%. By 2009
inflation had peaked at 500 billion % per year and the Zimbabwe currency was
worthless. Zimbabwe's per capita GDP currently is $600, the third lowest in the
world. The average wage is $253 a month—and that's for the 30 percent of the
population who are employed.
The so called bread basket of Africa has under Mugabe become
a basket case. Half the population are fed by the UN and diseases are rife.
Mugabe has excused all of the above on imperialism, by claiming whitey is out
to get him, yet whilst the people of Zimbabwe starve, he and his cronies live
it large.
Whilst the majority of the first world has placed sanctions on Mugabe , the third world sees him as something
of a champion, which kind of helps explain how the new leader of the World
Health organisation (WHO) Ethiopian Dr
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has praised Zimbabwe for its commitment to public
health and acknowledged that by appointing Mugabe of Zimbabwe as a
"goodwill ambassador" to help tackle non-communicable diseases.
Let me get this right a despot who has been responsible for "the
shuttering of hospitals and clinics, the closing of its medical school and the
beatings of health workers" is
rewarded for his actions. Kind of explains why Two dozen organisations —
including the World Heart Federation, Action Against Smoking and Cancer
Research UK — released a statement slamming the appointment, saying health
officials were "shocked and deeply concerned" and citing his
"long track record of human rights violations".
I suppose both Tedros and Mugabwe can both play the race
card in which to silence their detractors.
