UN reforms: President Mugabe on a right track

"The UN is a body that encompasses the countries of the world. For him (President Mugabe) to say that he wants to form a splinter organisation, it shows that he is not normal," said Obert Gutu the MDC-T spokesperson in an interview with the recent publication of The Standard newspaper.

Gutu went on to say that President Mugabe's threats to pull out of the United Nations showed that he was out of touch with reality.

Well, Gutu as a respected lawyer and a spokesperson of an alleged most populous opposition party in the form of the MDC-T should know better than a layman's assessment of events. In his endeavour to support and inform his constituency, Gutu must dwell on facts as they are and let his people listen to him without distortions of events. He is the spokesperson of the alleged most populous opposition party hence he should not mislead the public and his supporters.

Some of us who were there and clearly heard what President Mugabe said in his address to some ZANU PF supporters at the Harare International Airport on Saturday, when he touched down from the United States of America (USA) where he attended the UNGA could be surprised by Obert Gutu's uninformed arguments. The President made it clear that the African continent has threatened to pull out of the United Nation Security Council (UNSC) when that body is not reformed and feels that reforms are not necessary. The President did not say that Zimbabwe is going to pull out of the UN but the AU is the one threatening to pull out. So the President was clear and straight forward on that.

For those quick to forget, the African continent has been calling for the UN to reform its Security Council arm as to allow at least two African countries to have permanent seats and also veto powers but the so called super powers led by the USA, Britain and France have been scuttling all such efforts. So the move which the African continent is mulling to take cannot be blamed to only one African leader in the form of President Mugabe like Obert Gutu wants his gullible people to believe.

Obert Gutu went on to say that President Mugabe' s threat to pull out of the UN and form another organisation shows that he is not normal. As a learned lawyer he should not have zeroed in a continental move to one leader. Actually Gutu has shown that his appetite for supporting anything western has driven him to think that African leaders cannot do anything on their own. It is naïve and uncalled for on the part of Gutu to think that African leaders should keep on clinging onto the UN body when the same is failing to embrace African interests. Instead of saying that President Mugabe is out of touch with reality, this writer concludes that it is him who is vice versa because he failed to grasp what the President said.

It should be known that the argument given by the so called super powers that they should remain the only once having veto powers as they are the founders of that UN body is nothing. There is need for the so called super powers to accept that in a global village all countries are equal hence there should be no country which should bully others. Some so called super powers and Gutu need to accommodate the issue of a global village. If during his studies, Obert Gutu has missed that in the global village all countries are equal, he needs to revisit it so that next time he would give comments with a well-informed position. Actually Gutu should differentiate Zimbabwean issues from the continental issues.

Any rightful thinking and reasoning person would see that the African continent has been receiving some raw deals from the UN body. Actually all the international bodies have not been doing well to the African continent. They always impose their wills and wishes on the African continent. And Gutu thinks that African leaders should only keep quiet while the African continent is viewed as occupied by second class citizens. The difference in the colour of our skin pigmentation should not be viewed as the basis to be downtrodden by some other human races.

The African continent has not been receiving some raw deals from the UNSC alone even the formation of the International criminal Court (ICC) seems to have been formed with African people in mind. Africans were misled into believing that the ICC will deal with the crimes against humanity targeting everyone. For that reason quite a number of some African countries ratified the ICC statutes thinking that all those involved in the crimes against humanity would be dealt with accordingly. But since it was formed many years ago the ICC has only managed to arrest and try only former African leaders ignoring to deal with people like George W Bush and Tony Blair some former leaders of the USA and Britain respectively. These two former leaders killed some innocent and vulnerable people in Iraq when they lied that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destructions.

Currently Charles Taylor the former Liberian leader is serving life sentence in the British jail as he was allegedly convicted of crimes against humanity when he was still president. The former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo and his wife, are awaiting trial at The Hague now as they are also accused of the crimes against humanity. As this article is being written, Omar Al Bashir the Sudanese president has been indicted to stand on trial before the ICC as he is accused to have committed war crimes during the civil war in that country which led to the formation of a new country South Sudan. He has now been restricted to his country because once he flies out agents of the ICC would be after him as they plan to arrest him.

So the African continent has been not given equal opportunities in the international community meaning that it is their right to call for some reforms in such international bodies. Even in sport the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) has not been treating African teams equally hence reforms need to be also implemented there. Europe with about fifty-three qualifying countries is given thirteen slots to qualify for the World Cup whereas Africa with fifty-four countries is given five slots. Could that be said to be the clear representative of the World Cup if such slots are shared like this?

For that reason Obert Gutu should stop his appetite of supporting anything western without looking at the merits and demerits of such positions. The African continent is right to call for some reforms in the UNSC so that all countries in the global village become equal. As a reminder to Obert Gutu, President Mugabe did not threaten that Zimbabwe would pull out of the UN but he said that the African continent would do that if the UNSC reforms are not met.

So in future Mr Spokesperson take your time to listen attentively if the Head of State and Government is addressing the masses so that you will not distort his statements again.

Mukachana out