Lusaka — UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) president, Hakainde Hichilema, has dismissed suggestions for the appointment of a medical board to ascertain the health of President Mwanawasa who is currently admitted to a French hospital.
Mr Hichilema said at a Press briefing in Lusaka yesterday that those calling for the appointment of a medical board were being insensitive to the illness of the President.
He said Dr Mwanawasa had only been away from Zambia for two weeks and it was highly immoral for any leader to suggest that a board of doctors be appointed to investigate whether he was still able hold the office of presidency.
"This call for the formation of the medical board to go to France and examine the President has come too early. It is untimely and rather insensitive. The nation is at the moment engulfed in a prayerful mood for President Mwanawasa and wishing him a quick recovery," he said.
He said prevailing conditions were not compelling for anybody to suggest the appointment of a medical board because the President had not even finished treatment.
"The medical board constituted under Article 36(1) of the Constitution is not for patients who are still receiving treatment in hospital but for those reasonably suspected to be incapable of ruling after receiving treatment beyond a reasonable time," Mr Hichilema said.
He said those in a hurry to invoke the provision of Article 36 of the Constitution should wait for a reasonable time to allow the treatment of Dr Mwanawasa.
Mr Hichilema singled out Patriotic Front (PF) president, Michael Sata, as having taken an irrational approach when he proposed that doctors should travel to France so that they could determine President Mwanawasa's condition.
"It is true that every country has its stock of individuals with negative opportunism," he said.
He said it was most surprising for Mr Sata to speak as he did especially that he has offered the same sentiments in 2006 when Dr Mwanawasa suffered the first stroke.
Mr Hichilema said the Government should not grind to a halt because of the absence of the President, as the challenges facing the Zambian people were still alive.
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Museveni aide bought chemical, bio weapons Monitor correspondent
London
A Danish national appeared before a London court on Monday on charges of transferring chemical and biological weapons to Mr Ananias Tumukunde, an aide to President Museveni who has been in the custody of British authorities for several weeks on charges of money laundering.
Mr Niels Jørgen Tobiasen, 55, who appeared before the Southwark Crown Court for a pre-trial hearing, is a director in a Copenhagen-based firm that supplies sophisticated software and hardware to armed forces in the United States, Great Britain, Nato, and to more than 20 other countries. He is suspected of having dealings with Mr Tumukunde, a Ugandan diplomatic passport holder, who was arrested in the UK on April 3, charged with five money laundering-related offences, and remanded at Hamondsworth Prison. Mr Tobiasen was arrested on July 17 in London after a two-month investigation, and three months after Mr Tumukunde first appeared in court. Mr Tumukunde was not in court on Monday when Mr Tobiasen appeared before Southwark Crown Court but prosecutor David Levy asked Justice Martin Beddoe to have the two suspects appear in court together when trial starts on August 22.
According to the indictment seen by Daily Monitor, it is alleged that between April 1, 2007 and April 4, 2008, Mr Tobiasen conspired together with Ananias Tumukunde and Lt. Col. Rusoke Tagaswire to transfer, acquire, use or have possession of criminal property in contravention of Britains Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Prosecution says Mr Tobiasen on the 15th day of January 2008 transferred criminal property, namely Chemical and Biological weapons. Lt. Col. Tagaswire, a Uganda Peoples Defence Force officer, is still at large. A bio-chemist with a degree in toxicology, Lt. Col. Tagaswire was part of the team appointed by President Museveni last year to investigate the suspicious death of Brig. Noble Mayombo who died after a sudden and intense illness that aroused suspicion of poisoning. The report of their findings has not been made public.
During Mr Tumukundes last appearance at Southwark Crown Court, the prosecutor, Mr David Whitaker, alleged that Ugandas diplomatic mission in London was not cooperating in the case against President Musevenis adviser. Ugandas High Commissioner to London Joan Rwabyomere denied the claim in an interview with Daily Monitor.
Yes, we received the questionnaire from [the Crown Prosecution Service]. I forwarded the questionnaire to the Attorney General in Kampala but we havent received the response, Ms Rwabyomere said.
Deputy Attorney General Freddie Ruhindi claimed the office had not received the questionnaire and referred inquiries about the two Ugandan officials back to the high commission in London. The High Commissioner and her deputy, Ms Mumtaz Kassam, were not available for comment.
The army and the government yesterday denied any wrongdoing but pledged to cooperate with the investigators. The Presidential Guard Brigade Spokesman, Capt. Edson Kwesiga, said; Its true Lt. Tagaswire is one of us but its not right to say he has connections with Mr Tumukunde. We are more than willing to help the investigators in this case with any information they may require.
The Minister of Information, Mr Kirunda Kivejinja, said yesterday: We want to identify the actual mission he (Tumukunde) had gone for, but as government we dont do clandestine work. We will assist in giving any information they (investigators) want .
Ms Kassam and President Musevenis legal aide Fox Odoi have been seen outside the London courthouse where Mr Tumukunde is being tried. Lawyers working for the Kampala government have separately asked court to either drop the charges against Mr Tumukunde or have him released on bail but on both occasions, the judges have concurred with prosecutors; Mr David Levy and Mr David Whitaker that Mr Tumukunde should remain in custody as investigations continue. Each count against Mr Tumukunde carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in jail.
Chemical and biological weapons are considered weapons of mass destruction. The release of nerve agent sarin in a Tokyo subway in 1995 was a rare terrorist chemical attack while the mailing of anthrax bacteria to government and news media offices in the United States in 2001 is one of the most recent examples. Uganda is a signatory to both the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention and the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention which prohibit the use of these types of weapons due, in part, to the indiscriminate nature of their lethal effects.