Robert Mugabe’s Goodwill Ambassador Role Canceled

Robert Mugabe’s Goodwill Ambassador Role Canceled

The World Health Organization has revoked the appointment of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador following a widespread outcry.

“I have listened carefully to all who have expressed their concerns,” WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

He had previously praised Zimbabwe for its commitment to public health. But critics pointed out that Zimbabwe’s healthcare system had collapsed in recent years.

During the first 20 years of his 37-year rule, Mr. Mugabe widely expanded health care, but the system has badly been affected by the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy since 2000. Staff often go without pay, medicines are in short supply, and Mr. Mugabe, who has outlived the average life expectancy in his country by three decades, travels abroad for medical treatment.

Mr. Tedros said he had consulted with the Zimbabwean government and decided that rescinding Mr. Mugabe’s position was “in the best interests of” the WHO. He said he remains “firmly committed to working with all countries and their leaders” to build universal health care.

Mr. Tedros, elected in May under the slogan “let’s prove the impossible is possible”, had said he hoped Mr. Mugabe would use his goodwill ambassador role to “influence his peers in the region”.

But the appointment was met by a wave of surprise and condemnation. The UK government, the Canadian prime minister, the Wellcome Trust, the NCD Alliance, UN Watch, the World Heart Federation, Action Against Smoking and Zimbabwean lawyers and social media users were among those who criticised the decision.

The BBC’s Andrew Harding in Johannesburg reports that Mr. Mugabe’s supporters are likely to see this episode as Western meddling in Africa.

Following the storm of criticism from human rights groups and expressions of dismay from many member states, the WHO had little choice but to cancel its plan to make Robert Mugabe a goodwill ambassador.

The about-face will raise questions over the leadership of the WHO’s new director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The decision to honour Mr. Mugabe is likely to have been taken several weeks ago, and at no point did Mr. Tedros seem aware that appointing as goodwill ambassador a man who has been accused of human rights abuses, and of neglecting to the point of collapse his own country’s health service, might be controversial.

The WHO was supposed to be embarking on a new era of reform. Instead, it is mired in a public relations disaster.

Previous FUCK ME!
Next Woman hears that her husband once bottomed for another man in college and wonders what to do

About author

You might also like

The Happenings 3 Comments

A “kindr” version of Grindr in the works

Dating app Grindr might finally be ready to deal with the issue of racism and bullying on its platform. Or is it? In a strange release, Grindr tweeted a video

The Happenings 4 Comments

Taylor Swift And Katy Perry Have Buried Their Beef. But What About Other Celebrity Feuds?

One of pop music’s biggest feuds has apparently ended. Taylor Swift and Katy Perry appeared to have quashed their long-running feud as they embraced at the end of Swift’s star-studded

The Happenings 5 Comments

Is There Any Justification For Somebody Being Kito And Victimizing Gay People?

Is the presence of hardship in a person’s life an excuse for him to turn around to victimize his fellow human being as a means of creating a better life

5 Comments

  1. pablo
    October 22, 20:17 Reply

    First to comment. Also, I hate Mugabe. He should die already

    • quinn
      October 23, 20:50 Reply

      Ah bah, isn’t death too harsh? Full body paralysis seems fair. This is good news. There’s still some sanity in this mad world.

  2. quinn
    October 23, 20:53 Reply

    Now the world is reminded of the insanity of this man, quiet embarrassing for him now

Leave a Reply

Click here to cancel reply.