Maravi

Mugabe is ready to listen - Levy

Mugabe is ready to listen - Levy
By Brighton Phiri
Saturday March 31, 2007 [02:00]

PRESIDENT Mugabe is ready to listen, said President Levy Mwanawasa yesterday. And President Mwanawasa said he could not be dragged into his daughter Mirriam's involvement in the land saga because she was no longer under his custody. Speaking soon after arriving from Tanzania where he had gone to attend a Southern African Development Community (SADC) emergency summit on the political crisis in Zimbabwe, President Mwanawasa described his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe as receptive.

"Yes, we walked hand in hand with President Mugabe and he was receptive to me," President Mwanawasa said. "And I suggest that you go and read the statement which I issued in Namibia so that you can quote me correctly."

President Mwanawasa described the economic crisis in Zimbabwe as bad. "We have decided in Tanzania that we should work out means by which we could help Zimbabwe move out of its economic malaise," he said. "And I want to continue with that crusade when I am SADC chairman." President Mwanawasa is expected to take over the SADC chairmanship from Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili. And President Mwanawasa said he could not be answerable for his daughter's transaction in her quest to acquire land because she was an adult who no longer lived with him.

When asked to comment on Mirriam's acquisition of land that was not advertised by Ministry of Lands, President Mwanawasa, who was visibly upset, asked the reporters: "Didn't they tell you that my daughter was 34 years old? And at 34 years, is she supposed to be under my custody?". Marriam Mwanawasa is among the several people that were allocated an unadvertised land in Lusaka's Makeni area.

posted by MrK @ 6:21 AM