via UN analysis: tired Bob stumbles on speech – New Zimabwe 27/09/2015
A TIRED looking President Robert Mugabe stumbled along while reading his speech, with audible glitches, unfamiliar for the 91 year-old normally alert and fluent when making presentations.
Fresh from the controversy of reading the wrong speech at Parliament, Mugabe did not bang the podium but seemed to mourn as he pleaded with the West to “remove sanctions” to allow Zimbabwe to implement its reform agenda unhindered.
“The uneven progress made within…..the uneven progress made within and among countries…..and among the regions has widened inequalities and in some cases deepened poverty,” Mugabe said uncharacteristically repeating phrases and getting all tangled up as he shuffled his speech.
The president was addressing joint committees of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Summit ahead of the general assembly in Washington early Saturday.
Mugabe said Zimbabwe lacked “resources” to fully implement all the set goals.
“We have therefore inevitably had to prioritise their implementation and I want to underline that Zimbabwe is committed to this,” he said.
As his administration battles a debilitating economic crisis, Mugabe has made a major climb-down, accepting a reform agenda that he claimed was being constrained by the targeted measurers slapped on his inner circle by the US and European Union on allegations of human rights abuses.
While Mugabe is normally belligerent, banging the podium when demanding the removal of the sanctions, this time he looked to have given up as he seemed to sheepishly plead with his tormentors to “please stop, it’s enough”.
“The reforms we are undertaking including measurers to attract investment will materialise if the unjustified sanctions Zimbabwe has been subjected to for the past 15 years are removed,” mourned Mugabe.
Two weeks ago, Mugabe shocked Zimbabweans and embarrassed the country after reading his State of the Nation Address while officially opening Parliament’s 3rd session.
He had presented the SONA speech on August 26 at the national assembly.
The debacle, which Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa later told the national assembly would be investigated with possible repercussions, was met with calls for Mugabe to resign or be impeached on the grounds of old age.
Reports have indicated that Mugabe’s chief of Protocol Munyaradzi Kajese and other officials’ jobs are on the line for their role in the mishap.
It has been a horrible year for Mugabe interspaced with his appalling fall at the Harare International Airport in full view of shocked party supporters amid indications that the sun is setting on his 50 year long career as a politician as age catches up with Zimbabwe’s only leader since independence from Britain 35 years ago.
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