CONSIDER MY HEALTH, CRIES GBM

By ADRIAN MWANZA

WE should put politics aside and be considerate because health is more important than everything, former United Party for National Development (UPND) vice president Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba (GBM) has said.

Mr. Mwamba who is reported to have been denied passage to South Africa to go and get medical treatment for his heart condition said it was unfortunate that people were trying to politicize things even when his health was at risk.

Mr. Mwamba said it took the courts of law to declare him unwell for him to be allowed to fly out of the country but that the Immigration Department stopped him at the airport.

He said his heart condition was really bad and that it was unfortunate that the Government was not considering his health.

“Politics aside, this is my health we are talking about. Are they telling me it is wrong for me to get medical attention even when the courts of law have seen it fit?” Mr. Mwamba asked.

He said it was a very different situation when the UPND was in opposition because people were allowed to travel in and out of the country at will and wondered what had changed all of a sudden after ascending to power because they did not have any restrictions whatsoever.

And Mr Mwamba said that there was no need of restricting him because he had followed all the correct procedures.

“Imagine I had to prove in the courts of law that indeed I am unwell and it took a heart specialist to prove that my condition was not good but despite all these efforts, the Government still refused to let me fly out of the country for whatever reasons,” he said.

He said that he never anticipated that he could be treated in the manner he was treated, especially that he once served as the vice president of the ruling party adding that the state’s refusal to allow him to fly out of the country was justification that the political space in the country was indeed shrinking.

“Time and again we have complained that the political space in the country is slowly shrinking because the Government is making it difficult for opposition leaders to do their work properly,” he said.

He called on the Government to reconsider its stance because Zambians were watching and that it would have very serious consequences in the future.