“This should be pure amnesia or it could actually be dementia.”
“Well I personally think this is just fatigue, the old man looks strong, I only get worried when he coughs-out though, because you can hear the combustion in his chest…”
These are just some examples what people are saying about President Michael Sata, but in fact I heard these two statements spoken by journalists working at State House – those who enjoy a privileged look at our elderly head of state.
These discussions were sparked by President Sata’s recent memory lapses during a State House function.
On one morning, President Sata was unable to remember when he lost the election to former President Rupiah Banda and he also mistakenly mentioned opposition UPND President Hakainde Hichilema instead of former freedom fighter Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula.
President Sata said: “In 1968 when they robbed us the election, I had to plead with the nation, the boys wanted to walk from Copperbelt to come and sort you out here in Lusaka, but I said don’t come… We used to have war in this country, it took comrade KK and HH to go to Choma and sign the Choma declaration.”
This is not the only this that went wrong that day. President Sata also could not remember the name of the constituency for the UPND MP he was swearing in.
He had to ask vice-president Guy Scott, who simply responded “ask him, he is here”.
The previous week, President Sata distributed documents containing banking information for the UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema to the press. That could have looked like a normal attention seeking stunt by the head of state, but what was ironical about it was that the document he was giving the press was already public domain. The Post newspaper, the Zambia Daily Mail and other government media houses had already run a story containing the same details a month earlier. Did he forget that too?
That is not all. When the opposition held a press conference in South Africa to present their request to the Commonwealth, the President told the media that Zambia would “Etradict” (extradite) President Banda.
Everybody who knows Michael Sata can attest to the fact that he is usually very good with his dates, names and places. His speeches, have always lacked coherence, were very rarely incorrect at least in terms of people and events he mentioned – such is the skill of a politician.
This is the man who remembers the name of his first secretary, cleaner and garden boy who worked for him at Central Park offices many years ago. He could sometimes surprise everybody and recall the names of the customs offers who once welcomed him, not only at Lusaka Airport but also at other airports in the country – he simply never got such things wrong. But that doesn’t seem to be the case any longer.
This is why Zambians feel something is wrong with their President.
The Choma Declaration he was referring to was signed on June 27, 1973. At that time Hichilema was only 11 years which makes it unlikely that he was part of agreement between Nkumbula’s ANC party and Kaunda’s UNIP.
President Sata formed his Patriotic Front party shortly before the 2001 general elections and won one seat in parliament. He lost the following three presidential elections including the 2008 by-election (not 1968) which he claims the MMD rigged.
“We are all aware that Sata was very articulate but lately we are seeing something completely absurd. These are indicators that something is amiss. Things are falling apart on the part of the president. Can we find out why he is falling back?,” one commenter named Jim stated on Zambian Watchdog.
These memory lapses by President Sata are a source of concern among citizens.
The debate is getting wider on social networks. People are asking questions:
What is going on with the big man? Is the 76-year-old leader succumbing to old age or is he under some form of medical treatment which State House wants to keep secret? Is the rush to force by-elections and pick up new parliament seats related to the need to force in an unpopular successor in Wynter Kabimba? Given the increasing pressure the ruling party is applying against the opposition, do they have specific knowledge of how much time Sata has left to live?
The answers to these questions may come with time, but meanwhile the speculation can only increase.
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