Fix the economy first, Mr Mugabe

President Robert Mugabe on Saturday told hundreds of his injudicious cohorts at the Harare International Airport that Africa was mulling pulling out of the United Nations because the West was refusing to reform the inter-governmental organisation's Security Council.

While we fully understand the need to reform the UN Security Council, which currently consist of Britain, China, France, Russia and the USA, in line with current international trends, the nonagenarian leader chose the wrong platform to raise the issue.

The razzmatazz and ruffians that thronged the international airport to welcome their "polished" leader do not care a hoot about the United Nations and its lack of reforms thereof.

Mugabe failed to understand that what all these hungry and emaciated simpletons - and millions of other people across the country - only want food on their tables and a stable economy where their children can get jobs and have the wherewithal to pay for school fees and other bills.

Zimbabwe - once described as a jewel of Africa - is on the throes of an economic recession due to 36 years of Mugabe and his henchmen's misrule, corruption and mismanagement.

The UN Security Council did not contribute to the demise of Zimbabwe's once promising economy. In fact, the organisation has ensured the survival of millions of Zimbabweans by supplying food and medical care.

As such, pulling out of the international body will not solve our problems here, which were engineered by the economically illiterate Mugabe who thinks that a stable economy is built on patronage and populist policies.

His disastrous land reform programme and the Indigenisation Act have impoverished Zimbabwe, making the nation one of the laughing stocks in the world.

History has shown us that Mugabe dragged Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth after Zimbabwe was suspended in March 2002 for gross violation of human rights, especially during the election period.

When the increasingly frail leader made this grossly irrational move, Zimbabwe lost, inter alia, benefits enhanced by the Commonwealth Fund Technical Co-operation, which promotes economic and social development and the alleviation of poverty and the country and the country forfeited education opportunities as well.

In this case, it becomes clear that Mugabe wants to pull out of the UN purely for his selfish interests and we hope other African leaders see through this disingenuous ploy.

The international community knows Mugabe's regime thrives on violence, repression and intimidation. By threatening to leave the UN, he wishes to continue his unrelenting repression of the Zimbabwean people.

However, Zimbabwe cannot live in isolation, defying both national and international opinion.