I am still a disciple of Nkrumah - Mugabe

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe on Sunday aroused the spirit of Ghanaians when he said that he was still a disciple of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana. Addressing a mini-rally at Old Polo Ground, now renamed the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum where Nkrumah delivered his famous independence speech in 1960, President Mugabe said it was the teachings of the late Pan-Africanist that fired him up to liberate Zimbabwe in 1980 from British colonial rule.

Mugabe, who received a rousing welcome on Saturday at Kotoka International Airport in Accra on his arrival for the ninth ordinary session of heads of state and government summit which opened in Accra on Sunday, recounted his experience when he came to Ghana as a teacher to be trained as a freedom fighter by his late mentor.

He said he taught at Apowa Secondary School in Sekondi-Takoradi where he met and married his late Ghanaian wife, Mrs Sally Mugabe.

Mugabe aroused the crowd when he said he was personally taught by the late Nkrumah at the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute then located in the central city of Winneba.

"Nkrumah was a great African personality whose ideology must be preached to Africans irrespective of one’s political ideology," he said amid cheers.

He said his ZANU PF party cadres were trained in Ghana.

President Mugabe took time to explain to the crowd the controversial land reforms in his country, and he again blamed Tony Blair for lack of political will of implementing the 1979 Lancaster Accord which required Britain the fund the compensations for land acquisition.

He said it was high time Africa united and pulled its resources together for the betterment of the continent, saying that could only be achieved if Africans were united.

"After 44 years when Nkrumah called for a united government, some African leaders are still calling for a gradual approach," he intimated saying "the time for a union government is now."

President Mugabe and Muammar Al Gadhafi of Libya are the only two African leaders who have received rousing welcome from Ghanaians among the leaders attending the AU Summit, probably because of their radicalism against western powers.