A Prophet is not without honour, except in his own country

Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama was to confer on the Zimbabwean leader a Millennium Life Time Achievement award for his role in Zimbabwe's liberation struggle from British colonial rule had the four-day state visit not cancelled.   

President Mugabe, just like Ghana's first president, Dr Kwameh Nkrumah, did not only play a fundamental role in the liberation of Zimbabwe but that of the African continent as a whole. Thus, the award is befitting.

However, one wonders if the Mugabe that was to be honoured in Ghana is the same person that some lost Zimbabweans are up in arms against. Jesus Christ was on the nose when he noted that a prophet is not without honour, except in his own country and among his own kin.

People will begin to appreciate that President Mugabe was a person of high worth and value when he has passed on and they will wish if he could continue ruling them from the grave. This should not be misconstrued as a premature obituary for the president. The fact of life is that he is mortal whose biological clock will one day tick the last. People will remember him for his empowerment policies and his valor against the western neo-imperialism.

Even Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa who has been the President's assistant for over 50 years, acknowledged that Zimbabwe will exceedingly miss him. "We shall miss him dearly. He is an outstanding leader and human being," said VP Mnangagwa during an interview with the UK-based New African Magazine in August last year.

VP Mnangagwa likened President Mugabe to founding fathers of Africa such as Dr Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, Modibo Keita.

"I don't think the next generation will be able to produce a person like him. I don't think we can get a person even in our generation who can fill his shoes to the extent that has been able to remain an intellectual giant in leading our people and charting a course for the African people of this region, perhaps even continentally. Within the current African leadership, I don't see many who fit the shoes of the founding fathers (of Africa). The only one I know without thinking much is President Mugabe," said VP Mnangagwa.

This is the man that Ghana had found fit to honour with the precious award. Even the First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe also remarked last year at her rally in Murombedzi that Zimbabweans would miss President Mugabe. "It will come a day that Mugabe will not be there and people will regret, missing his leadership," said the First Lady.

Obviously when a Zanu PF member waxes such praising lyrics, the haters of Cde Mugabe rush to call them bootlickers. Surely, Sergei Lavrov, Xi Jinping, Faure Gnassingbe and Bruce Wharton among others, have no reason to bootlick President Mugabe.

Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister who last year led a high powered delegation to Zimbabwe which signed a $3 billion platinum mining, described President Mugabe as "a legend, an historical figure" while the Chinese President, Xi described him as "seasoned statesman and a founding father of Zimbabwe."

Gnassinge, the Togolese president who opened the 57th edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair was also not lost to the rare breed at the helm of this country that he described as an elderly statesman who is preoccupied with pushing the Pan-African vision forward.

"President Mugabe clearly demonstrated his unmatched wisdom and vision with the way he helped to bring peace in Mali. He is indeed a veteran and elderly statesman," said President Gnassingbe.

Even Bruce Wharton, the former US ambassador to Zimbabwe has a high regard for President Mugabe. During his final media breakfast meeting, like a man confessing before his death, Wharton said: "Robert Mugabe is a lion of Africa. He has dedicated his life to create a free and independent Zimbabwe. He is a leader not only of Zimbabwe, but he helped to bring down apartheid in South Africa."

A story is told of two friends who agreed to exchange their problems after an argument on who had a lighter problem. The following day, the two decided to undo the exchange after both realised that their problem was lighter.

If Zimbabweans could exchange presidents with the Americans, British or any of the professed democrats, surely they would not last a day with them. Libya did it with Muammar Gaddafi. They were manipulated by the West to violently remove and kill Gaddafi. That country has not known peace ever since Gaddafi was slaughtered.

Gaddafi inherited Libya in 1967 as one of the poorest nation in Africa but he had transformed it into Africa's richest country. Under Gaddafi's rule, Libyans enjoyed not only free health-care and free education, but also free electricity and interest-free loans. Today Libya is a failed state with most of Libyans now regretting the assassination of Gaddafi.

The same Mugabe who is being vilified locally is the same that citizens of other countries wish he were their president. President Mugabe is even held in high esteem by foreign opposition politicians such as Julius Malema.

"He (President Mugabe) is the only remaining leader in Africa who can still stand up to the West. He is the only one who continues to hold the whole of Africa together and still pushes for African agenda. No one pushes in the manner which President Mugabe is doing. From a broader perspective, he is the man who represents the kind of Africa we want. Africa where Africans own their land, Africa where Africans own their resources, Africa where Africa is treated as an equal partner in international economy and international politics.

"He is the only one who can speak that language without an apology and that's why everywhere he goes, President Mugabe is celebrated by Africans," said Malema.