via Hypocrite Mugabe no Pan-Africanist: PDP – NewZimbabwe 31/01/2016
THE People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has slammed President Robert Mugabe for hypocrisy in parroting the ideals of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) when he is not promoting the programme at home.
On Friday, President Mugabe bemoaned the flight of skilled young Africans to Western countries and failing to harness opportunities availed by the pan-African initiative.
“The continent must not sit and watch while able bodied men and women embark on risky journeys across the oceans in search of supposedly a better world,” President Mugabe said.
“The NEPAD agency must assist member states in creating facilities to equip the youths with the necessary skills that guarantee them employment opportunities, by creating small industries and businesses that target women and youths so that the need to migrate is minimised.”
Mugabe was co-chairing the opening session of the 34th NEPAD heads of state and government orientation committee, at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, hours before he surrendered the AU chairmanship.
Nepad was adopted 2001 by African leaders, with the primary objectives of poverty eradication, promotion of sustainable growth and development, and the empowerment of women through building genuine partnerships at country, regional and global levels.
It has successfully been implemented in countries such as South Africa, Ghana, Mozambique, Senegal and Nigeria among others.
When it was introduced, President Mugabe tried to cast it away but came unstuck as then Presidents Thabo Mbeki (South Africa), Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo and Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal exerted their influence to have it adopted.
PDP secretary general Gorden Moyo described Mugabe’s comments as meaningless for a once critic of the programme.
“Morally, Mugabe has no ground to talk about Nepad,” Moyo said in a statement weekend.
“His government has not acceded to the Nepad Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance of 2002 establishing the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).
“Yet APRM’’s primary purpose is to foster the adoption of policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability, economic growth, sustainable development and accelerates sub-regional and continental economic integration through sharing of experiences. Mugabe and his associates in Zanu PF are against these values.”
Moyo described the veteran leader and his government as “anti-development, anti-democracy and anti-people”.
“It is obsessed with symbols and pretences of power such as addressing continental platforms while civil servants go unpaid, thousands of children are not at school, millions are starving, youths have their prime time of life wasted in the streets looking for employment which is not there, and over 90% of the population is eking a daily living street vending. Poor Mugabe’s comments at AU are meaningless.”
The former state enterprises minister demanded the ratification of APRM through parliament.
“Otherwise, Mugabe should stop masquerading as a pan-African while failing to respect the pan-African values. Zimbabwe has had enough of this embarrassment.”
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