President Robert Mugabe has left Zimbabwe for Ghana, hours after touching down in Harare from Singapore where he had gone for his routine medical check-ups.
Mugabe, who has used every opportunity to fly out of the troubled nation, is attending Ghana’s 60th independence celebrations, said Foreign Affairs minister, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi.
Ghana gained its independence on March 6, 1957.
“His Excellency, the President, was invited as a special guest and of course you know how we have always had close relations with Ghana as a country and of course, Ghana has that distinction of being the first Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve independence 60 years,” Mumbengegwi is quoted saying by state media.
“It’s an occasion to commemorate the start of the movement towards independence by the entire African continent. So, His Excellency, the President, decided to accept the invitation as a special guest.”
Mugabe has been roundly criticized by abdicating on his responsibilities to provide answers to Zimbabwe’s economic woes, choosing to spend time mid-air - flying in and out of the country as he wishes.
In some instances as this, he has jetted into the country, only for him to fly out hours later.
In 2016 alone, Mugabe reportedly clocked over 200 000 km in the air, visiting Singapore more than 10 times on private business and to get medical treatment.
Mugabe came under fire for burning litres of jet fuel and spending huge amounts of State money in travel allowances for himself and his entourage on an aborted Indian junket ostensibly to attend a low-key World Culture Festival