Zambia’s first post-independence president Kenneth Kaunda is being treated for pneumonia at a hospital in Lusaka where he was admitted on Monday.
The former president’s administrative assistant Rodrick Ngolo dismissed speculation that the former, who ruled Zambia from 1964 to 1991, was diagnosed with COVID-19.
He said Kaunda, 97, has had a recurring problem of pneumonia for several years.
“He is being treated for pneumonia but he doesn’t have Covid,” Ngolo told the media.
President Edgar Lungu requested his compatriots to pray for the speedy recovery of his predecessor who had been hospitalised several times in the past.
Kaunda is one of the few remaining former African leaders of the immediate post-independence era.
Get-well-soon messages have been pouring in from well-wishes since news about his hospitalisation filtered in.
JN/APA