CEOAFRICA.com gathered from Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia that the country’s opposition groups led by United Party for National Development (UPND) have concluded arrangement to formally petition the cabinet to constitute an independent team of medical doctors who would help to determine the present health condition of President Michael Sata.

In a released statement, the party’s Deputy Secretary General Kuchunga Simusamba said,“We have called for this because on several instances the president has failed to appear on scheduled and advertised government programs, and there was no government explanation. More seriously now, his party, the Patriotic Front (PF) factions are beginning to emerge, and his defense minister told the nation that these factions are as a result of the uncertainty of the president’s health.”

Furthermore, sources disclosed that the party is contemplating on legal challenge should the cabinet refused to assemble the medical inquiry required.
“Many of [Sata’s] senior Cabinet ministers believe that he will not make it to 2015, and so they are positioning themselves to take over the reins of the presidency. That is the reason why we have called for the inquiry or we have invoked Article 36 of the constitution so that his health can be ascertained.”

He also made it clear that the constitution required that this medical team should be set up in a situation like this, “Article 36 of the constitution, says when we are in doubt of the capacity or incapacity of the president, we can invoke this particular article so that a medical board can be constituted to assess the lack of capacity of the president,”

“The president has been sneaking out of the country several times.  [He] has not announced his departure, and all we hear is that he is in some other countries going for medical examination. This thing is fueling speculation, as to whether the president is in good health.  I think that it will rest this argument to constitute this board.  This is not wishing him ill, this will clear this argument once and for all.” Simusamba concluded.

This declaration seems to confirm media reports which had speculated about the health condition of the president.

Meanwhile, Cabinet Minister, Fackson Shamenda has dismissed the demands of the opposition.” It is cruel to continue wishing the head of state such calamities,” he said.

He also claimed that opposition’s demand is not rooted in the constitution of Zambia, tagging it as another way to distract the government’s efforts to improve the lives of the citizens.
However, Simusamba declared that failure to grant the request of the opposition will make them to seek court injunction over the decision.

“We have that option of moving [to] the courts and seeking judicial review over the decision of Cabinet.  And this coming week we will be writing to [the] Cabinet to make this thing official, we shall give them a time frame to do it and if they do not, then we shall move to the court to compel them to have this thing done,” said Simusamba.