Zambian Vice-President Guy Scott on Friday denied reports that President Michael Sata has died while attending the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in the United States.
The Newsweek reported that the 77-year-old Sata died shortly after being attended to by doctors from the State Department in his hotel room.
But the Zambian vice-president has denied the reports, saying Sata’s health was entirely normal.
“This morning some foreign media called me on the same and I tried to ascertain the actual situation. It is not true and after further investigations we have established that he has not even received emergency medical services,” he told a question and answer session in Parliament.
Speculations on Sata’s health started swirling on Wednesday night when the Zambian leader failed to show up for his scheduled address at the General Assembly.
But the Zambian vice-president said there was nothing strange about Sata failing to address the General Assembly, adding that it was not mandatory that every person who attends the event should speak.
Last Friday, Sata addressed the Zambian Parliament after failing for a long time to appear in public, raising speculations about his state of health. The pale looking Sata, who could not even finish reading his speech declared “I am not dead” and thanked his wife for taking good care of him.
There has been growing anxiety on Sata’s health after he disappeared from public life in June, with unconfirmed reports indicating that he had gone to Israel for medical treatment while the government said he was on a working holiday.
Sata became Zambia’s fifth president after winning the 2011 elections after three failed attempts.
