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Remember Levy as an honest leader – Masebo

Remember Levy as an honest leader – Masebo
Written by George Chellah and Ernest Chanda
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 6:23:01 PM

CHONGWE MMD member of parliament Sylvia Masebo yesterday said Zambians should remember the late president Levy Mwanawasa as an honest leader. Speaking ahead of today's memorial service for the late president Mwanawasa, Masebo said the best way to remember him would be to live his principles.

"His principles are a challenge to all of us especially those in leadership. Those that know Mwanawasa can vouch for him that this is a man who believed that people must work hard in their various positions," Masebo said.

"This was a man who believed in discipline. He believed that people should not abuse their offices. We know that this man when he talked about the fight against corruption he demonstrated that."

Masebo said the late Mwanawasa had a passion for Zambia.

"He loved the people of Zambia. Those of us in leadership should try very hard to live in the tenets of good governance; zero tolerance to corruption," Masebo said. "His death will be in vain if we do otherwise...Mwanawasa was an honest leader. To him what was right was right."

And featuring on the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC)’s Open Line programme on Monday under the theme 'Mwanawasa Legacy Defined', Post managing editor Amos Malupenga said Mwanawasa refined his leadership over the years because he paid attention to constructive criticism, which helped him to look inwardly and make improvements where they were required.

Malupenga, who is also author of Mwanawasa's biography to be launched on September 3, 2009 and tiled Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, an incentive for posterity, said Mwanawasa was media friendly despite the so many times he felt irritated and provoked by the media.

And answering a question from the programme's moderator, Francis Ndovi, who said some people have accused The Post of hypocrisy because the newspaper is praising Mwanawasa in his death while it denounced and harangued him when he lived, Malupenga said those accusing the newspaper of being hypocritical about Mwanawasa's legacy were hypocrites themselves. He said unlike those praising Mwanawasa in his death, The Post praised him and also criticised him when he was alive.

"When criticism was due, we gave it to Mwanawasa and when praise was due, we did the same," Malupenga said. "But those who are today accusing us of hypocrisy on this matter have conveniently forgotten that when we criticised Mwanawasa, they said we were being disrespectful to the head of state and when we praised him, they said we had compromised ourselves, we had sold out to Mwanawasa and his government...It appears we cannot satisfy these people because they complain against everything we do."

Malupenga said The Post did not need to belabour this point because its entire works were archived and people could refer to its past works.

Speaking on the same programme, economic consultant Robert Sichinga praised the late president Mwanawasa for his good economic policies.

"We all know that when he took over he had found the economy quite in bad shape. But he tried his best and made sure he set the nation on a good path. We saw the interest rates going down and some good amount of growth in the economy was recorded," Sichinga said.

And government will today hold an inter-denominational memorial service for late president Mwanawasa at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross at 09:00 hours.

According to a statement by information minister Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha, the church service would be followed by the laying of wreaths at the Embassy Park.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha stated that the memorial service would be extended to all the nine provincial centres in the country to minimise people from flocking to Lusaka.

Secretary to the Cabinet Dr Joshua Kanganja stated that the laying of wreaths would be limited to individuals and officials with invitation cards.

Dr Kanganja stated that the members of the public would lay their wreaths after the official programme at 14:30 hours tomorrow and subsequent days.

President Mwanawasa suffered a second stroke in the resort town of Sharm-el-Sheik in Egypt while attending the African Union (AU).

President Mwanawasa was later evacuated to Percy Military Hospital in Paris, France, where he died on August 19, 2008, two weeks before he turned 60 years old.

Labels: MWANAWASA, SYLVIA MASEBO

posted by MrK @ 5:24 PM