Ugochukwu
Ejinkeonye
Not a few across the world are convinced that it has
become completely impossible to feel any sympathy for President Robert Mugabe no
matter what happens to him. Mugabe’s 35-year old rule which has rewarded
Zimbabweans with untold hardship has continued to defy any attempt at
rationalization.
Robert Mugabe tripped and fell at Harare Airport
But when he tripped on a red carpeted staircase last
Wednesday (February 4, 2015) and came crashing down to the ground as he
descended a podium at the Harare
International Airport
after addressing a very enthusiastic crowd of Zimbabweans, I could not help
nursing some discomfort over the prompt, massive celebrations that greeted the
accident across the world. I almost found myself agreeing with the Zimbabwean
Information Minister, Jonathan Moyo, that the global bacchanal over Mugabe’s
tumble amounted to “morbid celebrations.”
Mugabe must have been in a very pleasant mood that
Wednesday. He had just returned from the 24th African Union (AU) Summit in Addis
Ababa where, despite stiff oppositions from Civil
Society organisations, he was crowned the new Chairman of the 54-nation body, a
position that would now afford him a more elevated platform to periodically
deliver well-aimed sound bites to the West, his mortal enemies.
Also, as his plane touched down in Harare and he saw such a large crowd of
supporters waiting to receive him, he must have reassured himself that his
western antagonists would once more get the message he has been trying hard to
send across to them, namely, that he is still in power because Zimbabweans want
him.