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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Raila flies out into Mugabe firestorm |
| 2011-04-30 |
| A visit to Zim-bob-we by Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Friday has provoked vicious attacks from state media. The government-owned press launched attacks on Mr Odinga after he accepted an invitation to a congress for a party led by a fierce rival of President Bob MuggsyMugabe. Octogenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case... Mr Odinga's office in Nairobi confirmed that he will officially open Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party congress in the second city of Bulawayo on Friday. He will first pay a courtesy call on President Robert Mugabe of Zim-bob-we at State House, Harare, before travelling to Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo. Mr Odinga is expected back in Kenya later in the day. While Mr Odinga has agreed to speak at the MDC meeting, it is not clear whether Mr Mugabe might try to keep Mr Odinga out of the country. However, The wishy-washy However... State media propaganda against the PM's party has gone into overdrive in what analysts say is a reflection of widening cracks in Zim-bob-we's coalition government. The state owned Herald newspaper, which usually reflects the thinking in President Mugabe's Zanu PF party, described Mr Odinga as a merchant of violence. "Who then is this Raila Odinga?" asked George Rugare Chingarande in the paper's opinion pages. Dictatorial streak "Raila Odinga is a political schizophrenic. His rhetoric oozes with (sic) refined contemporary democracy dogma but his actions reveal a very violent and dictatorial streak. "The exorbitant nature of this obsessive preoccupation with violence is rivalled by a few in modern day African. His proclivity for violence can be traced to his student days." Mr Mugabe's sympathisers have never forgiven Mr Odinga for calling for the 87 year-old leader's exit in a 2008 interview with BBC. In the interview, the Kenyan Prime Minister called on African leaders to push Mugabe out of power because he was a stumbling block to political reform in Zim-bob-we. Mr Mugabe however reacted angrily, saying Mr Odinga was not welcome in Zim-bob-we. The Zim-bob-wean power-sharing deal that brought opposition leader Tsvangirai into government was modelled on the Kenyan agreement after the disputed 2007 elections that saw Mr Odinga become prime minister while Mr Mwai Kibaki retained the presidency. The MDC congress whose theme will be "United Winning Covenant for Real Change" started on Thursday afternoon and ends on Saturday. All the executive positions will be contested at the congress except the presidency and party leadership which will remain in the hands of Mr Tsvangirai. Zim-bob-we's unity government was also formed after contested elections in 2008. Mr Mugabe declared victory in a one-man presidential runoff after a violent campaign against the MDC and its supporters. This led to the signing of the Global Political Agreement, similar to Kenya's National Accord, that created the unity government. |
| Posted by:Fred |