Minister of State for Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs Retired Brigadier-General Ambrose Mutinhiri has praised President Mugabe for initiating and supporting programmes that have brought development to the country.
In a series of meetings with people in Marondera West Constituency where he is also the Member of Parliament, Rtd Brig-Gen Mutinhiri said programmes like Command Agriculture had changed the country for the better.
“Look at what the President is doing for the country,” he said.
“He introduced programmes like Command Agriculture, and now silos are overflowing. He has also worked on road and dam construction programmes to make the country a better place. When we look at the Presidential Input Support Scheme, the President said everyone is going to get presidential inputs.
In this province we have already received the inputs and very soon we will be distributing them. Mashonaland East Province largely depends on farming, so when we get these inputs let us use them responsibly.”
Rtd Brig-Gen Mutinhiri said schools should benefit from the Presidential inputs, so that they stop depending on parents.
“I suggest that schools should be given hectares of land and get the presidential inputs so that they can start agricultural projects and stop depending on parents,” he said.
“School Development Committee members should consider this idea.”
Rtd Brig-Gen Mutinhiri appreciated that youths were part of the beneficiaries of the input scheme.
“We are so grateful to hear that youths are also getting hectares of land and the presidential inputs,” he said. “I heard that parents have also embraced that idea and I am told we already have hectares of land that have been reserved for youths. These are some of zanu-pf initiated programmes and we are grateful.”
Rtd Brig-Gen Mutinhiri said he was disappointed with some war veterans who were saying bad things about the President.
“Some war veterans are now taking the wrong direction by going against the President,” he said.
“The victory that we got during the liberation struggle was not for us war veterans, but for the nation as a whole. Don’t go around bragging about yourselves as war veterans, thinking that you are special than the others. Some people only notice the mistakes that have been made by Zanu-PF, but when it comes to its good deeds they remain silent. One cannot live without making mistakes because that’s how you get to learn. There are no doubts that Zanu-PF has made mistakes before, but they are less as compared to the good things it has done for the nation.”
Rtd Brig-Gen Mutinhiri said the programmes that have been initiated showed that the President was still fit to rule the country.
“Some people are saying the President is too old, but what he is doing for the country is enough evidence that he is still fit to lead the nation,” he said. “Anyway, we won’t allow anyone to tell us that our President is old because in countries like the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth is old, but she is still Head of State, so let us defend our motherland.”