Govt responds to WHO decision to rescind Mugabe's ambassadorship

The government of Zimbabwe through Minister of Foreign Affairs, Walter Mzembi has said that it respect’s the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) decision to rescind President Robert Mugabe’s appointment as the goodwill ambassador for non-communicable diseases. According to Mzembi, WHO had more to gain from Mugabe’s appointment than Mugabe himself.

Said Mzembi

We respect the WHO decision as much as we respected their initial decision to honour our President

The inordinate noise around the designation of the President [Mugabe] as WHO Global Ambassador for Africa does not assist the cause in the first place. If anything it is WHO that has benefited tremendously from its decision in nominating President Mugabe to lead the fight against NCDs through media amplification of WHO itself, and curiosity by the general public on what really are NCDs, by tagging the name Mugabe to the debate. On a name recognition scale, this name beats them all, but it is our business to protect its brand equity from unnecessary besmirching

So on the balance, it is wiser to let go, and help WHO focus on its mandate while we focus Zimbabwe on its membership obligations. That notwithstanding, the President will carry on with his passion for NCDs which are killing over 40 million people per annum with 80% of them from the developing world.

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