The
president of Zimbabwe who is really advanced in age has refused to
relinquish power insisting that he will rule till he dies.
Robert Mugabe
Robert Mugabe, the 92-year-old Zimbabwean President, on Thursday
maintained that even though his party would choose a successor, he
planned to contest the next election in 2018.
Mugabe, who would be 94 by 2018, insisted that he would still seek
his last five-year term under a new constitution that would see him
through to 99 years old.
He said with reference to the UN Chief, Ban Ki-moon statement
calling on African leaders not to cling to power, Mugabe responded that
he would continue “until God says ‘come’’.
Mugabe, who turned 92 on Sunday, said he had no intention of
stepping down in spite being Africa’s oldest leader and the only
president Zimbabwe has known since independence in 1980.
He said as the president he still remained in charge of day-to-day running of his government.
His wife, Grace Mugabe, a powerful figure in ZANU-PF in her own
right, told party supporters that he was the only one who could keep
Zimbabwe “intact and peaceful”.
She added that she would push him in a wheelbarrow to work if he was unable to walk.
Eldred Masunungure, a political science lecturer at the University
of Zimbabwe, noted that from analysing the political situation, his
political speeches, his political actions, it is increasingly becoming
clear that he is gunning to be there for as long as he lives. He said in
spite his old age, Mugabe remained the glue holding together his
fractious ZANU-PF, which dominates the political scene.
