President Mugabe Would Have Rejected WHO Role Even Before His Withdrawal

Zimbabwe President's Spokesman Charamba had on Tuesday said Robert Mugabe would have rejected the role of World Health Organization goodwill envoy had he been formally asked.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus named Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador on Wednesday at a conference in Uruguay that both men were attending. But the appointment was rescinded on Sunday following a backlash from Western donors, rights groups and opposition parties.


The WHO cannot take back what it never gave in the first place, and as far as he is concerned, all this hullabaloo over a non-appointment is in fact a non-event.


Charamba said the fact that Zimbabwe was a producer and exporter of tobacco, mostly to China, would have meant Mugabe campaigning against a crop that underpins the economy.