MZEMBI'S COSTLY BOOB

Newly-appointed Foreign Affairs minister Walter Mzembi could be ruing his attempts to ingratiate himself with President Robert Mugabe after masterminding his short-lived appointment as the first ever World Health Organisation (WHO) African ambassador for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in Uruguay’s capital city of Montevideo last week.

The Daily News can reveal that Mzembi, who has the gift of the garb, actually wanted Mugabe to occupy a much higher position of WHO global ambassador for NCDs, a position previously held by former New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

Foreign Affairs minister Walter Mzembi had said “This is a major health diplomacy coup for Zimbabwe and should be celebrated given the adverse impact of NCDs on the well-being of Zimbabweans particularly cancers, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and mental health diseases,”.
“President Mugabe has in the past acquitted himself in health diplomacy, and most recently his advocacy for resource mobilisation for Ebola stricken countries, Liberia, Guniea, and Sierra Leone at the United Nations in 2015, is still very fresh and widely acknowledged by the beneficiary countries.”
He said it was on the back of this legacy that it was only appropriate to lobby for a distinguished role for him in the fight for NCDs, “which clearly need a champion in Africa.”

But Mugabe's spokesman, George Charamba said yesterday his boss was never appointed ambassador by WHO.

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