MUGABE MUST NOW DO THE DECENT THING: LEAVE THE SCENE PEACEFULLY!

I come from a part of Ghana, which is much cooler, than the rest of the country - the Akwapim Mountains. It is an area of Ghana, which, at a certain point in time, during the colonial era, the British colonialists had planned, to move the original inhabitants out of, and settle in, themselves - as it was more or less relatively malaria-free, then, and, for West Africa, had a salubrious climate: perfect to retire to, when the heat of the interior and the coast, became too much, for their delicate natures, to bear!

Needless to say, my forbears would have been deprived of their land, by the stroke of a pen, by some insignificant minion, of Her Britannic Majesty's Colonial Office, in faraway London, arbitrarily - and no one in the world then, would have lifted a finger, to protest against such a crime against humanity: perpertrated by an apparently civilised people, who said they believed in the rule of law - but who in practice, operated on the basis, that might was always right, whenever the rights of other peoples, came up against that of the British occupiers, of their lands!

And petty officialdom, living in the Gold Coast serving their home country, Great Britain, the occupying power (which regarded Africans, essentially, if truth be told, as only half-human - heathen savages, needing to be 'civilised'!), would have displaced a people, whose attachment to their land, like that of most Africans, was of a more intense nature than most of the rest of humankind: being of spiritual significance, in their culture; more or less the physical connexion, between the living, and their departed ancestors.

The Akwapims, are famous in Ghana, for their good manners, and their law-abiding nature. However, like mountain people everywhere, in the world, they are a tough breed of the species - and they would have resisted the British colonialists, to a man, if they had been put in the "backs-to-the-wall" position, of having to fight to prevent their ancestral lands, from being stolen from them, by crafty and "ungodly" foreigners.

However, Providence, mercifully, did not make the plans of the British colonialists, for the resettlement of the Akwapim Mountains, to materialise - and as a consequence, we were never put into the rather unfortunate situation, which Mr. Mugabe and Co. had to content with, when they finally forced the ruthless and selfish descendants, of the original British colonialists, to give up political power: setting the stage, for getting land, stolen from their ancestors, by arrogant and racist occupiers, back - and once again, firmly, in the hands of the descendants, of their original owners: the black Africans, of Zimbabwe.

Mugabe was given largely empty promises, by the British, when the Lancaster House agreement, which ended the Zimbabwean war of liberation, was signed. Money, promised to the new African-led regime, to buy out white landowners, never really came: as there had never been any intention, in the first place, to help the black Africans in the newly-independent Zimbabwe, recover land, stolen from them, by foreigners - who had deprived their ancestors of their land forcibly, and without compensation.

Mugabe and Co. were simply fed with empty promises by the British - promises, which were never meant to be kept, by those who made them: but were only made to string the much-despised, and insubordinate African 'troublemakers' along: the age-old trick, employed by imperialists, who come up against determined opposition, by a long-subjugated people, who suddenly tire of their lot and begin to insist, that they too have a right, to a place under the sun, like all other human beings!

I once met Mr. Mugabe, then the widely respected, and admired leader, of the most powerful of the liberation movements, fighting the racist regime, of Ian Smith, on an Ethiopian Airlines flight, from Nairobi, to Accra. I went up to him, stretched my hands out, to him, and said I was from: "Nkrumah's Ghana" and was"honoured to make his acquaintance."

As an Nkrumaist and pan-Africanist, I confess, that I do admire Africans like Mugabe: full of self-belief; and very much at home, in today's globalised and cosmopolitan world. Africans, who are highly intelligent, and impervious to the outrage, of being looked down on (by white people, the leaders of most of whom, Mr. Mugabe, is far more intelligent, than!).

Mr. Mugabe is practically insulted everyday and constantly demonised: just because he happens to be a dark-skinned individual, in a world, dominated, by white-ruled nations, controlled by largely racist ruling elites, operating a system underpinned by institutionalised racism - which does not tolerate dark-skinned people who stand up for themselves: and refuse to be exploited by neo-colonialists!

I do know, that vengeful "closet-racists" in power in the UK, and other Western nations, conspired, over the years, to do to Mugabe, what they did to Nkrumah :because they hate nothing more, in this world, than a highly intelligent African leader, who is not a lackey of neo-colonialism, and insists on bringing about social transformation, which will turn his nation into a prosperous one, for all its people - free from the grasping hands, of self-seeking neo-colonialists, and their local lackeys.

Alas, in seeking to destroy Mugabe, they also destroyed the Zimbabwean economy - a situation that forced many ordinary Zimbabweans, to cross the crocodile-infested Limpopo River, to South Africa, to escape the hell on earth, which Mugabe's Zimbabwe had become. He has done his best to try and keep Zimbabwe out of the clutches of its erstwhile exploiters, at all costs.

However, it appears that ordinary Zimbabweans, caught in the middle, in the Titanic struggle between the determined Mr.Mugabe, and the equally determined foreigners (wanting a foot in the door, in Zimbabwe, in order to be able to exploit its many riches, yet again - with their local Zimbabwean stooges' help!); are tired of the suffering, which they have had to endure, all these years, and have opted to try their luck now, by throwing in their lot, with the stooges for Western interests, Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC.

Mr. Mugabe would be wise to retire gracefully, now - and hand over power, to those, whom the people of Zimbabwe, have indicated, they now want to rule them, going forward. Clearly, they have done so in the hope, that their lot will now improve, with the change in regimes.

There are many, who will say, that God has answered the prayers of ordinary Zimbabweans, in their hour of need. The people of Zimbabwe have spoken. It is said that the voice of the people, is the voice of God. Mr. Mugabe must listen to them: he must do the decent thing - step down, and leave the scene, peacefully, now. A word to the wise...