Zambian president okay after fainting during parade, secretary says
His private secretary said Lungu experienced a sudden dizziness but recovered immediately and was able to walked to his car and return to his residence.
RUSTENBURG, June 14 (ANA) – Zambian President Edgar Lungu is well and continued to discharge his duties after briefly collapsing during the commemoration of Defence Forces Day on Sunday afternoon, his private secretary said.
“The President wishes to assure the general public and all concerned citizens including the international community, that he is well and has continued to discharge his duties,” secretary to Cabinet and principal private secretary to the president Simon Miti said in a statement.
He said Lungu experienced a sudden dizziness but recovered immediately and was able to walked to his car and return to his residence.
Zambia commemorates Defence Force Day every year on June 13 to mark the unification of the Zambia Army, Zambia Air Force and Zambia National Service to form the Zambia National Defence Force on the same day in 1976.
In his Sunday address, Lungu urged the defence force to remain politically neutral.
“You have remained politically neutral throughout the various leadership our great nation has had. I urged you to continue being patriotic and loyal to the constitution, the government of the day and the people of Zambia. You must always place national interest above self interest,” he said.
Lungu, who is campaigning for re-election in August, was hospitalised in 2015 after he fell ill in public.
He came to power in 2014, replacing Michael Sata who died unexpectedly before the end of his term as president. Lungu went on to win elections in 2016.
According to media reports, Hakainde Hichilema is again set to be Lungu’s main rival for the presidency.
Lungu has warned that he would not hesitate to use his constitutional powers to clamp down on electoral violence if the Electoral Commission of Zambia and the Zambia Police Service failed to do so, according to news website Lusaka Times.
It quoted Lungu as saying he was aware of a ploy by the opposition to deliberately cause violence during the election period and trigger a public uprising against the police.
– African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa
