President Mwanawasa this morning left Addis Ababa for London where he is scheduled to undergo a routine medical check up.
Dr Mwanawasa was in Ethiopia to attend the African Union, AU, Heads of State and Government summit which officially closed yesteday.
ZANIS reports from Addis Ababa that President Mwanawasa who was accompanied by First Lady, departed Addis Ababa’s Bole international airport at 03:30 hours Zambian time for London.
He returns home this Saturday.
And Briefing Zambian journalists last night at Addis Ababa’s Sheraton hotel, President Mwanawasa said the Zambian people should not be apprehensive about his visit to London because he was merely going there for a routine medical check which he undergoes every after three months.
The President said he was in good health.
Foreign Affairs minister Kabinga Pande and his counterpart for Commerce, Trade and Industry Felix Mutati saw off the President to London.
Others at the airport were Local Government Deputy Minister Ben Tetamashimba, Copperbelt minister Mwansa Mbulakulima, Zambia’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and the AU Patrick Sinyinza, embassy officials and other senior Ethiopian and Zambian government officials.
While in Ethiopia, Dr Mwanawasa attended among other engagements the African Peer Review Mechanism, APRM, under the auspices of NEPAD and the Committee of 10 on the United Nations Reforms.
The President also held bilateral talks with India’s External Affairs Minister Anand Sharma who extended an invitation to him to attend that country’s summit on India-Africa coming up in April this year.
He also held bilateral talks with World Bank President Robert Zoellick and Food and Agriculture Organisation Director General Dr Jacques Diouf who pledged assistance towards Zambia’s economic development.
The President also conferred with Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe on issues of common interest.
On the outcome of the summit in relation to this year’s theme ’Industrial Development in Africa,’ Dr Mwanawasa observed that Africa had vast resources which needed value addition to make them competitive on the global market.
Dr Mwanawasa who was flanked by foreign affairs minister kabinga Pande and Commerce minister Felix Mutati during the briefing, observed that without adding value to her natural resources, Africa was exporting both jobs and its natural resources to industrialised countries.
The President said to enhance her competitiveness on the global market, African countries should enhance their production base so that they export finished products at a higher value.
On Zambia’s benefits from the summit, Dr Mwanawasa said the country was provided with an opportunity to exchange ideas with its peers on the continent and that it had a chance to meet with Indian, World Bank, the Food Agriculture Organisation officials whom he asked for assistance towards the effects of the floods afflicting the country for which they pledged support.
The President described the bilateral talks with these partners as fruitful and that they were willing to assist Zambia.
The President also touched on the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) meeting which he attended along with other heads of state and government last Wednesday ahead of the official opening of the main AU summit.
Dr Mwanawasa disclosed that Zambia was currently working on her APRM report and that the country mission was led by former Mozambican First Lady Gracia Machel.
The President said Zambia was awaiting assessment by the Committee on its APRM progress.
Dr Mwanawasa said while such institutions were doing well, there was also need to sensitise the people on such institutions.
He attributed the delay to review Zambia’s APRM record to the fact that the country was dealing with the National Constitutional Conference (NCC).
In addition, the president said government had acceeded to the APRM at a time when the component was not budgeted for but that there was now provision in this year’s budget for it.
Dr Mwanawasa disclosed that during the APRM meeting, Benin was reviewed while Rwanda and Uganda presented their annual APRM reports whose quality he said was encouraging.
On the proposed Union Government, President Mwanawasa said the matter was discussed during the summit which officially closed yesterday although the heads of state and government did not go into details.
A committee comprising two representatives from each region would report back on the matter in July at an extraordinary session billed for Egypt.
The President who is also the SADC chairperson, said the Zambian government and the southern African region has accepted that the concept of a union government was desirable but that it was necessary to consult the people on the matter saying it was not an issue where a President could single handedly make a decision.
The Third Ministerial Committee that took place from 27 to 28 November last year here underlined the need to reinforce and revitalise the structures of the African Union while putting in place a mechanism as well as appropriate structures to expedite the process for the establishment of the Union Government.
The audit report compiled by a high level panel of the continental body has brought out several factors crippling the AU including lack of better qualified staff at African Union missions.
On the UN reforms, President Mwanawasa said the AU had maintained its stance of having two representatives on the UN Security Council with the right of veto.
And on Zambia’s unsuccessful bid to head the AU Commission through its candidate Dr Inonge Mbikusita Lewanika, Dr Mwanawasa stated that the loss did not reflect Zambia’s inadequacies of the campaign or candidate.
‘’We accept the loss because in a democracy you win or lose. She came second to the winner Gabonese foreign affairs minister Jean Ping but we wished she had won’’, the President said.
The President also expressed happiness at COMESA Secretary General Erastus Mwencha’s victory as AU Commission Deputy Chairperson.
Dr Mwanawasa hoped that Dr Mwencha who hails from Kenya, will make significant contribution to the continental body.
Atate Chipo, with all due respect bwana presidente, pls bring your fat self back to Lsk and have your check-up at UTH! It’s only when you feel the pinch of inadequate and outdated facilities at our nation’s leading “teaching hospital” that you might see the need to invest more in our dilapidated social infrastructure. What you’re currently doing is selfish, evil and plain stupid!, no difference from what that midget Kafupi used to do. Infact, let’s buy all the equipment needed at UTH so that this medical tourism comes to an end once and for all including the midget’s vacations at Morningside with Regi babes…
stupid African politician’s…monkey tricks through and through
Cheap bastards fix the problems home
Medical tourism at the expense of the poor.Shame on you cheap Bastards.All the trips made by the former midget Kafupi and all other Bastards would have bought enough equipment for a modern lab or radiology dept at UTH.
What routine check-up takes a week?? I urge Zambians living in the UK and abroad not to attend to his meetings, this man has made it clear that we are worthless, useless and unimportant to him despite BOZ stats showing we remitted over $250 million to Zambia last year.
Politics is a lucrative career as you get such benefits at the expense of the tax payer. We have an autocratic system coated in see-through tattered democracy and we can’t hold our leaders accountable for their actions. The president has no faith in the system he promised to uphold for his fellow countrymen. How do you trust such a man who has lacks vision and integrity? A leader leads by example but alas he favours ‘do as I say and not as I do’ philosophy. Zambians choose your leaders wisely – because you get stuck with them for 5yrs if you are lucky.
Maureen needs to do a spot of shopping in Knightsbridge (Harvey Nichols, Harrods, etc). Hey what’s wrong with that? Everyone knows who has actually been running Zambia for two terms now. It is NOT LPM. It is MM. That is why a hypertensic, Diabetic, fat man risks his life doing a demanding job (under duress) knowing that it could kill him anytime. In the meantime, the real president now wants a third term. It is almost like being in Argentina (Evita Peron and Cristina Kirchner)!
Zambia politics is one huge comedy. The only problem is that it is not funny at all.
Why do they insist on calling him Doctor Mwanawasa anyway? Gordon Brown has a PhD but no one calls him Doctor Brown. I also have a lot of Zambian friends with PhDs but they do not like the ‘doctor; title. I know I digress.
Failed to show the zambia national team live from ghana and now the govn`t can afford to pay for medical bills for one fat man who can not look after his fat self.
Is there a Mcdonards at state house or what, this fat man is eating himself to dearth, and if his wife can not see that he is too fat to be a performing husband then she should be very dull and not fit for the so much talked about succussion to plot one.
This is a corrupt government that cares little for the people; its leaders only interested in looking out for themselves.So many initiatives, so many promises yet people (children, the old) continue to die needlessly because of lack of basic facilities/equipment in our hospitals and clinics.How many of us have not lost someone and thought ,in this day and age,this death should not have happened? Now how can we justify our complicity with our politicians in their abuse of office? Do you think you don’t have the power to change things? Think again.
When Mwanawasa came to power I thought he would be the saviour of UNZA and UTH, since he had actually graduated from there. I thought Kaunda and Chiluba did not care for these institutions because they had not had a chance to go there. How wrong I was! Here is a man who does not believe that, given the right resources, Zambian doctors are actually capable of looking after him. For all his achievements, He is a backward and ignorant man!
If you compare LPM and Chiluba’s leadership, you will notice that Chiluba was better. I also believe that had chiluba had the chance to run Zambia at a time of high copper prices like today, he would have made Zambia far much better than what LPM is doing. The problem in Zambia is that people think that once you are ‘qualified’ as a lawyer then you are automatically a good leader in everything. Today the most corrupt people politically are lawyers. They are full of legal monkey tricks esp in Zambia.
Observer(13),
You are a confused ***** with a diabolical mindset period.Go say that on a visual public media platforms and walk the street of Zambia repeating it in town halls. After two month along that insanity route, visit LT with feedback.
I hope he Has not suffered another “mild stroke”. Last time, we did not know what was happening until Sata pushed Cabinet to reveal what was wrong with LPM.Now that VJ who played the dirty game well is no more, we shall see the hopeless “Mulongoti” make all sorts of announcements.Wish him all the best health though.
Every 3 months – four times a year – 4 x 5 = 20 times. Before chuchu leave the office he will have gone to London 20 times for his medical checks. 20 x whatever cost one trip cost is a lot of money which can serve pipo from poverty sicken country like zed. Chuchu pls have a heart for Kanyama, sinazongwe, serenje, siavongo and other zedian pipo for God’s sake. Whats why you want mrs chuchu to stand as president so that those trips continue for another 10 yrs.
Anonymous #16 mwana, Chuchu has no heart and is the biggest hypocrite! His corruption fight is selective and he simply does not walk the talk. How can a parent eat steak’s at a posh restaurant while kid’s back home are munching on kapenta? This bull$hit needs to stop immediately! This is the same fat fool who accuses Zambian’s in the diaspora for being unpatriotic when their only crime is seeking a more decent life for their families. As for kafupi the midget, let’s stop his vacations to Jhb, let UTH take care of his fragile heart. I wish them both good health but this *****ic behaviour needs to be curtailed!!!
apologies Anonymous #16, the post above should be attributed to Tarantino
LPM, you sacked Sikatana coz of poor health. Why dont you resign too on medical grounds. We shall respect you for your honesty and may be win our pity to vote for your wife.
Leaders anywhere and everywhere in history and at present have always had better care and treatment, and enjoy greater opportunities and I can bet they always will. You can insult them all you want but the fact still remains, and always will be that way.
I dont like Mwansawasa, just like I hate politics.
Thats heavy bullocks on the heart-less fat man.Bet he deserves more.I wouldnt want to attend any of his meetings coz the man is just plain stupid.He is not worthy of the top seat of my country Zed.Routine checks!! my foot, FTJ has been subjected to UTH medical checks lately, why not muwelewele for crying out loud!!
pure bullocks.what does it say to the zambians who use our hospitals everyday.that the are not good enough even for a check up….if so then fix them mr president.these are politicians you only see when campaigning but not after.just there to look after the rich in zambia
Ba Zambia now you are talking!!!
this check up business abroad is a genuine concern Mr President.you cannot fault zambians for getting rather annoyed to hear that you travel for specialist treatment as far the UK.whilst we appreciate certain expertise is not locally available…what are we doing about it?a statement over the same would placate us and give us FACTS to debate !!
Pundit, Zed produces the best in the medical field as a matter of FACT.All over the world our medical personnel are known for doing the job well.Until they improve the UTH, these bastards will continue to shun it in preference for the ‘cleaner’ and ‘costly’ overseas clinics.Its a shame really!!
50,000 deaths from malaria per year; more than that for AIDS-related illnesses; high infant and maternal mortality; 165th out of 177th on the Human Development Index; Clearly none of these things mean anything to our political leaders. And we continue putting them in power, I feel sorry for this country, my motherland… we are a nation who have lost the will to live as decent human beings. We advocated for higher copper taxes, let’s advocate for better health care.
If you are a genuine Zambian, why not resign and save the Zambian people the much needed forex. What a dictator
I’m sure the OP goons read this blog. Pls tell your boss Chuchu that people are pissed off about his current “vacation”. Analyst #26 has laid bare some very depressing stats! UTH is in a morbid state yet we find the cash for futile engagements. Kanyama by-elections and Inonge’s failed AU campaign has cost the tax payer almost $1.8m combined! Surely this cash could buy alot of specialist equipment for UTH, Ndola Central etc. Our best doctors have fled to the same place Levy is now taking his fat a$$. Ba Kateka, you think donors can keep giving us grants for such escapades? Where’s the logic in your renowned “legal brain”
by using UTH, comrade KK instilled confidence in our local capabilities and this forced him to maintain high standards. On a separate note, KK is also very healthy due to his strict dietary regimen, you can’t believe he’ll be clocking 84 this yr! Chi Chuchu, despite being only 59, your love of “minofu yanona” is taking it’s toll on your body. At your age, you should be watching your calories & exercising more often, to avoid unnecessary trips to London! bloody stupid mambala…you’ve really made my blood boil today!!!
When he and his entourage return as civil servants they will all claim for allowances and benefits in U.S. dollars equivalent for being “on duty” outside Zambia. This is how civil servants make up for their meager salaries while those that cannot make such trips suffer. Please go to UTH because our doctors there can treat fat people.
Our healthcare will only improve if there is a law to compel these politicians to foot the bills themselves if they go outside the country. That way they will be forced to improve the local health facilities. After all KK used to go to UTH for his checkups, and he is still fit today. The demand must come from the people, otherwise these politicians will do nothing.
For sure me am I pissed off with this Chuchu in state house going to UK for medical check up at hugh expenses of zedian pipo(mind you just checking not treatment) leaving poverty, floods, sickly pipo all the country. You mean he is got no personal physician to check him up. Anyway we were warned that you are voting for a garbage and we did not listern, now we are paying a very high price, next to what Jesus paid. Next time one of the qualifications should be physical, mental and spirit health to avoid electing sickly presdo for our country.
Good luck LPM.
Wishing you good health.I do respect health more than anything else.
Am pretty sure that if we have no equips in our health instutions ,labs and the like,we do not need to blame a single person.Decision are made by a team.There is always a proposal or motion and it gets debated.Good?passes.Bad? lozes.In my deep heart.All Zambians including the Gov have this task.Zed docs are really qualified to handle anything.
Am sorry for my poor analysis.Good health Mbuya yr excellency.God bless you.
Kachepa speculate: When chuchu comes back on Saturday or is it Sunday his dear wife is going to announce her candidature for Mad Muwelewele Devils’s (MMD)party at the airport in present of all those cadres who are to well her and her fat hubby. WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!
#33 Mr Nalisa, we are not blaming yr Mbuya Chuchu for luck of equips at the Zedian hospitals, but for going to checkups abroad at zedian pipo’s expenses leaving them with poverty, floods, no medicines in the poorly funded hospitals. Surely the money he is using to travel can go a long way to alleviate the poverty in country.
#33, I think if we summed up the total government medical expenditure on healthcare abroad (on politicians and relatives)over the 2 terms for Chiluba, and the period LPM has been in power you will find that the amount is more than enough to get the necessary equipment and treat these same people locally.
We all remember how KK would visit the UTH for his regular checks and save us more from overseas trips,, much unlike these *****s pretending to look into the welfare of the masses when they are intent on lining their pockets from the allowances they get.Somebody tell that LPM to get it right for once and never ever think we are still docile. One day, oh……uhm.
Bo Lubasi #33, it’ll be wise to shut your trap temporarily while people’s temper’s cool down. There is no way any sane person (except a pea-brain!) can justify Chuchu’s current adventure. If he’s using money earned 4rm his law firm, then I have no qualms about it, but the FACT IS he’s using the TAX you and I pay…ooops, I forgot, you’re in China, which may explain your nonchalant attitude.
#33 Iwe Chi Mbuya wakwa Chuchu in China just shup up your filfhy mouth if you are not feeling the pain of being in the floods, poverty sicken country. We know the Mad Muwelewele Devils’ party (MMD) sent you to china through yr Mbuya chuchu to learn tailoring at our expense. Enjoy yourself with Chang Cheng Chong pipo while you can and dont comment rubbish to annoy us your sponsors.
Some of you forget that this man was already comfortable before becoming president, he went for check ups twice a year before becoming president ever since his mild stroke he has had to increase the number of check ups he has had to attend i don’t think he is using tax money but more importantly the ppl behind his expenses are the big players like the mathanis, GBMs and his close arab friends who fund the MMD its not everything that’s done with our taxes
All of you that are spitting vernom here,Your virulent insults are clouding the debates, is it possible that we can achieve a Zambian blog that is civil,characterised by clean debates and some measure of decorum and respect? Our hospitals are indeed in shumbles and their free fall precedes Levy’s presidency. He must do his part to aggresively fix these problems and his resorting to the UK certainly does not bode well for a commitment to salvage our home infrastrucure. But please let us distinguish between criticism and brazenly insulting the man
#33, you are a school boy who has never paid TAX, shut up, keep studying chu chang wo lee!
Never comment again if you are mentally stable. enjoy your rice, snails, dogs and scrables!
I think we should let all ministers, MPs, permanent secretaries, hospital directors, headmasters and all govt leaders go to UK and U.S. for medical check ups. We should have healthy leaders. That would be fair. What do you think?
Especially fat ones.
What is being achieved with all this insults? I have a suggestion for all you who have nothing but bad language, waste your internet resources on Porn, I think you belong there. Mind you all those people you are insulting, Muwelewele, Kafupi, PP, Kalu, aint even seeing any of your useless insults.
Don(45),
You are on the money! Worst of all is the fact that not even those closer to corridors of the power lines with their whispering voice pick up anything here.They consider us disillusioned pigs on their dead trail.Why insults are rolling, they are making money, enhancing their education from strength to strength.We are graduating in helpless insults, they are acquiring chains of degrees. 5- years along the way, the majoring here will stuck with insults while others will have the money and all the qualifications.
The interesting thing is that insults don’t stick so the class society has nothing to mind of as long as power and capacity to weld it in their hands.Smart people invest their time in Education, seizing every prevailing opportunity to self actualization. It looks like the majority here their opportunities and future are in insults.Every journey must have some stop over and for critical assessment if there is any progress made.
Over the 2 years we have been, has MMD been growing stronger or feeble by all dimensions?
In a country with over 85% of its people living below the poverty line – it is almost impossible to “self-actualize”[47]. Let us not use terms that have little meaning to the majority of the people whose interests this govt vowed to uphold,advance and protect.Yes, what I say may have no impact on what this govt is doing but I hope that one day when you decide to get into plot#1, you will remember of our frustrations, our grievances, our suggestions. This is a forum that should embody and convey the zambian spirit, that from our interactions, a movement of change will come forth.Aaahh!! forget it!;might as well pee in the wind.
Of course am apprehensive and angry about the UK trip. If it is just a physical exam then why can’t he do it at UTH then. It is illiterate Zedians who who are fooled by what he says.
Mad (49),
Allow me to differ with you by clearly stating that insults are never in our Zambian culture or spirit of struggle incase your frustration has gone overboard. Leadership can never be born out of a departed moral judgment and self respecting community.Every time frustrations, grievances and suggestions are clouded in insults, they lose a legitimate platform. Those with whispering voices turn their back and make summary reports that its a place of no substanceless jerks against benefit.
Mad (49),
FYI,insults and resourceful advocacy are opposed polar
….turn their back and make summary reports that its a place of no substance jerks against any public benefit.
Mad(49),,
Yours has started with insults look at your friend Sankoh where it took him. His idealistic Start stikes a code with yours
Foday Sankoh began his political career in the 1970s, as a critic of widespread corruption. Sierra Leone’s military and political elite were plundering the diamond and other mineral wealth of the tiny nation, whose people are considered to be among the world’s poorest.
After losing his job as a TV camerman for his anti-government views, Sankoh was briefly imprisoned. Increasingly radicalized, he joined other Sierra Leonean dissidents in Libya, where Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi was sponsoring revolutionary movements throughout the world. He later went to Liberia, where he joined forces with another young charismatic—and ruthless revolutionary leader—Charles Taylor, who became president of his country after a brutal civil war.
Eventually returning to Sierra Leone, Sankoh was one of the founders of the RUF. But the high-minded movement to eliminate corruption soon degenerated, as impoverished young men sought to make their own fortunes.
The RUF quickly earned a savage reputation, as they amputated limbs of civilians, routinely raped women and girls and abducted boys to join their army. Young recruits were often forced to rape or kill a family member, thus preventing a return to their previous lives. RUF young soldiers were often forcibly injected with cocaine before going into battle.
Captured and Reviled
Soldiers shot Sankoh in the thigh as he attempted to avoid capture, according to the Concord Times of Freetown. The bleeding Sankoh was surrounded by a mob that beat him, pulled off his clothes and paraded him naked through the streets. He was eventually taken into military custody. The international human rights organization Human Rights Watch is urging that Sankoh receive a fair trial to reinforce the rule of law in Sierra Leone.
His capture came nine days after he had disappeared from his home where he had been detained under house arrest. The rebel leader has been captured before. He was sentenced to death in 1998, but his RUF forces responded with a horrific invasion of Freetown. West African troops, led by Nigeria, repulsed the attack several weeks later. Sankoh subsequently received amnesty in return for signing the July 1999 peace treaty.