News / National
'Mugabe's trip to New York 'is all about shopping in Manhattan and Queens', MDC-T claims
06 Jun 2017 at 08:35hrs | Views
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party has taken a swipe at President Robert Mugabe for attending the United Nations Oceans Conference that opened in New York on Monday - at a time when the southern African country's economy was floundering.
MDC spokesperson Obert Gutu said the nonagenarian should have remained in the landlocked Zimbabwe to address a myriad of problems affecting the country instead of attending the Oceans conference.
"It's a total embarrassment; Zimbabwe is a small landlocked country and the nearest ocean is the Indian Ocean which is about 1000km away from here. The summit that Mugabe is attending is themed on oceans and we are taken aback why a bankrupt country like Zimbabwe run by a bankrupt regime has a whole president being the first one to arrive at such a summit. As a country we have no reason to be at that conference," said Gutu.
Watch Obert Gutu speak in the video below.
The New York conference is expected to adopt an intergovernmental declaration in support of the implementation of the UN Sustainable Developments Goal 14 that seeks to prevent and reduce marine pollution and end overfishing in oceans, among other things.
Mugabe, 93, took with him two cabinet ministers and his wife Grace among his entourage of senior government officials.
Gutu described Mugabe as "heartless" and called for Zimbabweans to vote him out of power in the 2018 elections "in order to stop his spending jamborees".
Gutu, who described Mugabe as "the visiting president", accused the Zimbabwean leader of misusing public funds.
"There is no reason for him to go with Grace. We all know that Grace buys expensive luxury items whenever she goes outside the country so this trip is all about shopping in Manhattan and Queens. We know that whenever Mugabe goes out of the country he goes away with US$4million in spending money."
Grace has earned herself the nickname "GucciGrace" for her penchant for designer outfits that she buys in foreign land.
MDC spokesperson Obert Gutu said the nonagenarian should have remained in the landlocked Zimbabwe to address a myriad of problems affecting the country instead of attending the Oceans conference.
"It's a total embarrassment; Zimbabwe is a small landlocked country and the nearest ocean is the Indian Ocean which is about 1000km away from here. The summit that Mugabe is attending is themed on oceans and we are taken aback why a bankrupt country like Zimbabwe run by a bankrupt regime has a whole president being the first one to arrive at such a summit. As a country we have no reason to be at that conference," said Gutu.
Watch Obert Gutu speak in the video below.
The New York conference is expected to adopt an intergovernmental declaration in support of the implementation of the UN Sustainable Developments Goal 14 that seeks to prevent and reduce marine pollution and end overfishing in oceans, among other things.
Gutu described Mugabe as "heartless" and called for Zimbabweans to vote him out of power in the 2018 elections "in order to stop his spending jamborees".
Gutu, who described Mugabe as "the visiting president", accused the Zimbabwean leader of misusing public funds.
"There is no reason for him to go with Grace. We all know that Grace buys expensive luxury items whenever she goes outside the country so this trip is all about shopping in Manhattan and Queens. We know that whenever Mugabe goes out of the country he goes away with US$4million in spending money."
Grace has earned herself the nickname "GucciGrace" for her penchant for designer outfits that she buys in foreign land.
Source - newsday
