10 July 2009
THE Government has refuted reports that President Rupiah Banda is unwell and failed to address MMD cadres at Livingstone International Airport before his return to Lusaka on Wednesday.
Chief Government spokesperson Ronnie Shikapwasha said in Lusaka yesterday that President Banda was in good health and that his recent knee operation in South Africa was healing well.
Answering questions from journalists during a tour of media institutions, Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha said it was unfair for some people to continue politicising Mr Banda's health when he was fine.
"President Banda is very fine and he is not sick. He is able to walk and his knee operation is healing well, it is sad that some people are trying to politicise his health," he said. He was clarifying media reports that President Banda was unwell and failed to address cadres at Livingstone International Airport.
Gen Shikapwasha said if Mr Banda was unwell, he could not have managed to attend the recent Zambia International Trade Fair (ZITF) on the Copperbelt and Lwiindi traditional ceremony in Monze.
He said Mr Banda further attended the Lwiindi Kuzyola Mukuni Ng'ombe traditional ceremony of the Toka-Leya people of Livingstone and Kazungula on Tuesday with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. "This shows that our president is fine. You can see that he walked on these occasions implying that he is in very good health," Gen Shikapwasha said.
He, however, said it was normal for President Banda to get sick once in a while because he was also a human being like any other person who could get ill at any time. He urged all Christians to continue praying for President Banda to enable him recover fully from the knee operation and continue to carry out his national duties. Gen Shikapwasha said it was necessary to pray for whoever was sick in the Government to enable them rule and continue to foster peace in the country.
He said the peace that currently prevailed should be treasured as some countries did not have it because of continued conflicts and wars.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 The Times of Zambia. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
