African Oldest President, Mugabe off to Singapore for medical checks

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe was on Monday night jet out of the country for medical check up according to the statement released by the government.

The last time he flew out for medical checks was on March 1 this year, this is his second medical trip to the south Asian nation within a two month period.

The last condition his aides said the nonagenarian was suffering from was eye cataract. The opposition has, however, insisted that the president was battling cancer, a claim Mugabe’s handlers have refuted.

The 93-year-old is Zimbabwe’s only political leader (Prime Minister and President) since independence in 1980. His health is a hot topic ahead of a presidential election scheduled for next year where he is the candidate of the ZANU-PF party.

The Ministry of Information said he was expected to return home at the weekend. Mugabe now struggles to walk, with security aides forming a human shield around him in public. His last public outing was last week during the World Economic Forum Summit in neighbouring South Africa.

A visibly exhausted Mugabe told a panel discussion in a low murmur that his country was not a “fragile state,” and that it was the continent’s second most developed country next to South Africa.

Critics say his infirmities make him unfit to hold office, a position the courts have disagreed with. The veteran leader continues to hold tight control over his ZANU-PF party.

In February he said the party and Zimbabwe’s people saw no viable alternative candidate to him for next year’s elections.