Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - Thursday December 27, 2001
Manoah Esipisu
Zambia, like many other countries in Africa, has a high rate of HIV/AIDS--an estimated 200 Zambians die from the disease every day.
"We want to assist all people to have access to cheaper drugs. Our people are suffering and we must move to help them," he told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.
One in five of Zambian adults carries HIV. But Zambia still does not have an AIDS policy framework paper and last month the government failed to agree with the World Bank on a $42 million loan to help fight the disease.
"We would have to talk with pharmaceutical companies on getting cheaper versions of their AIDS cocktails made available in Zambia. We have to examine all avenues, including generic drugs," Tembo said.
Aside from the FDD, no other political party has made AIDS an issue in the campaign. The disease kills more than 1,000 teachers every year and is expected to reduce life expectancy in Zambia to 37 years within the next decade from 46 years today.
ALLEGATIONS OF VOTE RIGGING
Tembo, a 57-year-old former vice president who now heads the opposition FDD, said he was encouraged by the support he had received during a hard-fought election campaign. But he has accused the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) of ballot tampering, including printing pre-marked ballot papers.
"They (MMD) are so desperate to stay in office that they will do everything possible to maintain the status quo. But we shall defeat them," Tembo said in an interview at his farm in Makeni, just south of the capital Lusaka.
The MMD and Zambian electoral officials have dismissed the allegations of vote rigging as untrue. Some 2.6 million voters are registered for Thursday's presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections.
An opinion poll showed this week that Tembo is running third behind businessman Anderson Mazoka and MMD candidate Levy Patrick Mwanawasa.
There are 11 candidates vying for the presidency.
The survey also showed that no party was likely to win a majority in parliament, setting the stage for the country's first coalition government since independence 37 years ago.
Tembo said it was too early to discuss whether his party would be willing to join a coalition government. During the campaign, Tembo has pledged to fix the country's struggling economy and improve the lot of Zambia's poor.
"Agriculture is down, manufacturing is down, everything is down. It translates to no jobs and a lot of hunger," he said.
"People are fed up with sleeping hungry and want to start putting something in their stomachs," he said. "We have to get the country working again."
The former infantry commander's popularity soared earlier this year when he led a cabinet revolt against President Frederick Chiluba's bid to seek an unconstitutional third term in office. Chiluba later backed down and agreed to retire at the end of his second five-year term. But Tembo and a dozen cabinet colleagues were sacked from the government.
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