The Zambian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Solomon Jere, has refuted media reports that the country’s founding president, Kenneth Kaunda, is dead.
The High Commissioner, who made the clarification in Abuja at a media briefing, urged people to ignore the reports which he described as “contemptuous rumours”.
Kaunda, one of the leaders of the front-line States, comprising Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia, that helped in the liberation of most of Southern Africa from colonialism is 96 years-old and shall turn 97 on April 28.
The High Commissioner also refuted media reports that Zambia had lost its sovereignty to China over bad debts, stressing that such reports were “despicable”.
He explained that it was not true that China intended to repossess some Zambian State-owned enterprises because of the government’s failure to settle its outstanding debt obligations to China.
According to the High Commissioner, Zambia is revitalising her economy by diversifying away from mining to agriculture, tourism and renewable energy.
