Nothing is more self-condemning than captaining a ship yet sailing in another; in Nigeria, it exists in many forms, for example vice-chancellors whose children are studying abroad, or local manufacturers who rarely patronise industries in-country.

The worst possible form constantly finds expression in the broader African setting, where presidents and head of states cannot trust their lives in the care of their respective countries’ health system.

Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, left his country for Singapore at the weekend to seek medical treatment, swelling by one the number of African leaders currently on medical tourism.

Who are the other African leaders currently receiving (or have recently received) treatment in a country other than theirs?

SINGAPORE IS MUGABE’S SECOND HOME

Since the turn of 2017, Mugabe,  Africa’s oldest head of government, has been to Singapore at least thrice to seek medical attention.

His latest trip was on Friday, July 7, to treat – wait for it – cataract. That is what the Zimbabwean government said is wrong with Mugabe!

However, the opposition claims he is afflicted by a cancer.

While Mugabe is gallivanting to and fro Singapore, which itself was a third world country until few decades ago, many hospitals in Zimbabwe are in crisis.

Some of them had begun away non-emergency cases and at a point doctors had to embark on industrial action. Some hospitals had to announce suspension of surgeries, citing the unavailability of medicines.

Meanwhile, Mugabe has announced that he will be standing for re-election next year. His ZANU-PF party has already picked the 93-year-old as its candidate.

Mugabe has been Zimbabwe President since 1987; that is 30 years – more than enough time for him to build a solid health structure in his homeland.

BUHARI’S THIRD TRIP TO LONDON IN TWO YEARS

Since assuming power on May 29, 2015, 74-year-old Muhammadu Buhari, President of Nigeria, has visited London three times on medical grounds. He is yet to return from his third visit.

The first was to treat an ear infection, but the ailment for which he made the second and third visits to the UK have so far been kept under wraps.

The last Nigerians heard from their President was a recorded voice message in Hausa wishing the Muslim faithful and the entire country a happy Eid-el-Fitri celebration.

Buhari left Nigeria on May 7, and nobody knows his return date. What we do know, courtesy of his travels, is that the best doctors are not here in Nigeria, neither are the best hospitals – never mind that Isha Sesay, a British journalist of Sierra Leonean descent, recently drew attention to Nigeria by publicly thanking “Nigerian doctors and nurses” for saving her mother’s life in December 2016.

BAI KOROMA’S YEARLY TRADITION

Ernest Bai-Koroma, President of Sierra Leone, has a tradition of undergoing annual medical checkup in Germany.

In 2015, Sylvia Blyden, a former staff at the Sierra Leonean State House, explained that Bai-Koroma’s annual German trip did not begin when he became President in 2007.

She clarified that it had been the President’s tradition “since the time he was a highly successful international business executive through his years as opposition leader to now he is doing his final term as Head of State”.

Koroma only recently returned from one of such Germany trips.

One would have thought that Bai-Koroma would have fixed his country’s health sector and quit having to travel to Germany every single year. But that was not to be. When he was in Germany last month, he was even pictured enjoying a game of squash!

ANGOLA’S DOS SANTOS RUMOURED TO HAVE DIED IN SPAIN

Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, President of Angola, left his country at about the same time as Nigeria’s President Buhari. But it was not until May 29 that the country’s foreign Minister told the public that the President was in Spain for medical treatment; and that was after enormous pressure from the opposition.

Also Dos Santos, 74 just like Buhari, has remained at the helm of affairs in Angola since 1979 – 38 years of ignoring his country’s decrepit health system.

Before the Minister’s clarification, rumours of the President’s death had taken over Angola’s social and online media. But Isabel, his daughter and one of Africa’s richest women, clarified that the President still lives.

Dos Santos has since returned to the country.

TALON… TAGGING ALONG TO FRANCE

Patrice Talon, President of Benin Republic, recently opened up that he underwent two successful surgeries during his recent visit to Paris.

In a statement released on June 19, a day after he returned from his trip, Talon said one of the operations he underwent was due to doctors finding a lesion in his prostate while the second operation was in his digestive system.

But few weeks after Talon was said to have “completely recovered” and “fully exercising his constitutional duties”, he returned to Paris on June 30 for a “routine medical check.”

His return date is still uncertain.