Ghana Rawlings says Africa is "proud" Mugabe is AU chair - proud of a tyrant!

Speaking during a meeting with former Mozambique leader, Joachim Chissano, former Ghana President Jerry Rawlings said he was shocked that France had objected to Mugabe assuming the chairmanship of the AU.

He said: "And when they (France and allies) are told that Mugabe is a man we're proud of because he has a historical memory of where we come from, to remind us of what we should be doing and where we should be going, then their names are mentioned by (France’s President Francois) Hollande as African heads of questionable character."

France has reportedly voiced its displeasure at Mugabe’s appointment to some African countries.

Yes Mr Rawlings Mugabe “has a historical memory of where we come from”, God knows how many times the Zimbabwe tyrants has retold that colonial history, but that is all he has. Zimbabwe cannot be stuck in the past and ignore what has happen after white colonial rule.

Look at all Mugabe’s speeches, all he ever talks about is his heroic pre-independence exploits and nothing else. If he says anything about after independence it is about his fight to stop these imaginary Westerners who are threatening to re-colonize the Zimbabwe and Africa. He will never ever talk about how, since independence, he has systematically denied the people their freedoms and basic human rights including one-man-one-vote and even the right to life itself.

The late Tanzania President, Julius Nyerere, told Mugabe when Zimbabwe attained her independence in 1980 that he had inherited “Africa’s jewel” because of the country’s wealth and potential; he warned Mugabe not waste it. Zimbabwe is now one of the poorest countries in Africa; millions of our people have left the country to escape economic poverty and political repression.

Do I need to remind Mr Jerry Rawlings that even the AU itself refuse to accept that Mugabe won Zimbabwe’s 2008 presidential run-off elections because, even by AU’s own very low standards of what constitute free and fair elections, Mugabe’s blatant vote rigging and use of wanton violence had gone too far. Over 500 opposition supporters were murdered that year, hundreds of thousands others were beaten and/or raped and millions had their properties destroyed.

Mugabe “won” the 2013 elections only because the democratic reforms agreed were necessary after the 2008 elections were never implemented allowing him to blatantly rig the election by tampering with the voters roll to deny opposition supporters the vote whilst allowing his supporters to cast multiple votes, for example.

However he has since failed to rig the economic recovery and today the country’s economy is in total meltdown. Unemployment has soared to 90% and 16% or 2 million of our people now live in abject poverty. Mugabe has attached himself to helm of political power like binnacle to a rock and as long as he remains in power the future for our people will remain grim.

Yes we too are proud of our historic struggle to end white colonial rule but that was 35 years ago. We have to deal with the reality that Robert Mugabe, our pre-independence liberation hero, has become our post-independence oppressor! Retelling his heroic past a million times over will not bring back to life the over 30 000 he has murdered for selfish political gain since independence nor will it provide clean running water and food to millions our people who are thirsty and hungry.

The trouble is for some of Africa’s little minded leaders like Jerry Rawlings ending white colonial was not a means to an end – freedom, justice, human rights and dignity and economic prosperity for all – it was all that mattered and that is why they are proud of a tyrant like Mugabe. He ended white rule and the fact that he has brought even worse economic suffering and political oppression that the white colonial regime before him is of no consequence. Of course that matters to us who are at the receiving end of Mugabe’s tyrannical rule; we see nothing to be proud of in having a corrupt, vote rigging and murderous tyrant for state president much less chairman of AU. And thank God, we do not need France’s President Francois Hollande or anyone to tell us there is nothing to be proud of in having a murderous tyrant for president!