Maravi

Muareen asks Sata not to take advantage of her

Muareen asks Sata not to take advantage of her
By Amos Malupenga
Wednesday August 27, 2008 [04:00]

FIRST lady Maureen Mwanawasa yesterday asked Patriotic Front president Michael Sata not to take advantage of the fact that she is emotionally weak following the death of her husband. Maureen said it was sad that Sata decided to attack her on radio after the first family chased him from Chipata where he went to view President Mwanawasa's body on Monday.

“Mr Sata came to where I sat and said that he had hired a plane to follow the President's body wherever it will go,” Maureen said. “He said he wanted to see the President in France but he was stopped and that now he decided to hire a plane so that he can utilise the money he could have utilised in France. He said he was doing this because he had reconciled with the President and they were friends. I told him to leave instead of politicising the President's funeral. I told him that from the day of the reconciliation, he has always been saying that he only reconciled with the President and not his family, MMD or the government. So I told him that the family is not happy because as far as they are concerned, you have not reconciled with them so why should you now be following the body everywhere as though you care for the family?”

Maureen said Sata refused to oblige with her instructions. She said at this point, she asked the provincial chairperson and provincial minister to ensure that Sata left.
“But they said they were trying to get some cadres to deal with that,” Maureen said. “I said 'you can't get cadres to deal with this matter when the man who has died belongs to the government. Why don't you get the state police?' That's how Mr Sata was asked to leave by the police because as a family we are aware that he just wants to make political mileage out of this. It's not that he cares so much about us. He viewed the body in Lusaka so why follow it all over the country together with some of his party officials?”
Maureen said the Mwanawasa family was heartbroken and Sata should know when to politic and when to be serious. She said Sata should not dictate to her on how she should mourn President Mwanawasa.

“Who is Sata to tell me how I should mourn my husband?” Maureen asked. “As far as I am concerned, I will mourn Mwanawasa forever. Yes, tradition and culture expect a widow to look down when mourning. But I advise all widows to ask for strength from God when mourning, instead of burying their heads and allow people to do all sorts of wrong things when they are watching. I refuse to be taken advantage of just because I am mourning. Let's be fair. Sata should not take advantage of the President's death to push his political agenda. That's wrong. He thinks we don't know what he is doing.”

Labels: MAUREEN, SATA

posted by MrK @ 5:21 AM