Zambian President Sata opens parliament, easing health fears

By Chris Mfula LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambian President Michael Sata attended the opening of parliament on Friday looking healthy and walking unaided, easing worries about his health after the 77-year-old was out of the public eye for three months. Concern about Sata's health had been mounting since June following news he had received medical treatment in Israel and disappeared from public without any explanation. Sata, whose rarely updated Facebook page had also fuelled speculation about his health, thanked his medical doctor wife, Christine, for the support she had given him as he officially opened parliament. "I am not dead," Sata jokingly told lawmakers at the beginning of his speech. Sata took part in a campaign rally in a town 500 km (300 miles) from Lusaka last week in what analysts said was a deliberate attempt to quash speculation about his health. However, he only spoke for a few minutes. Vice President Guy Scott told parliament in late June that Sata was on a "working holiday" in Israel. Israeli official sources told Reuters he was there receiving medical treatment. The president suffered a heart attack in 2008 and his opponents said he collapsed during a six-week election campaign in 2011, a report Sata denied. The copper-producing southern African nation is due to hold its next election in 2016. Zambia needed to invest in education, health and agriculture as a priority to reduce poverty levels and attain continued economic growth in Africa’s second largest copper producer, Sata told lawmakers. Zambia passed a new law in 2009 to change the budget cycle so that the budget could be approved before the start of each financial year in January. Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda is expected to present the 2015 budget in October.