Maravi

Sata personally settles hotel bills

Sata personally settles hotel bills
By Edwin Mbulo in Livingstone
Wed 07 Dec. 2011, 13:55 CAT

PRESIDENT Michael Sata on Saturday personally paid lodging and food bills to Sun International Hotel's Royal Livingstone for over an hour's use of the resort.

After a closed-door meeting with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe who arrived by road from Victoria Falls Town, President Sata joked about President Mugabe's security detail, saying he was better off sending an envoy. A hotel worker who sought anonymity said the President's gesture to personally pay the bill was a sign that he was allergic to corruption.

"What we used to see is that when president Rupiah Banda, Levy Mwanawasa or other senior government officers came for official duties, we were taking the bill to either the PS permanent secretary or the DC district commissioner and we saw a lot of inflations in the original bills being taken out to them and not come back. Sata is really doing the ‘Don't kubeba' style," the hotel worker said.

And President Sata when presented with two bills - one in a brown envelope and another in a hotel folder - queried the hotel staff over the authenticity of the bill.

"What is this?" President Sata asked a Royal Livingstone guest relations officer with the name tag Lydia Namukanda.

"Can you please give me a bill? The problem is that when you young men take off your hair, you also take off your brains. Who is the manager here?" complained President Sata.

President Sata then demanded an audience with the resort manager and mistakenly called out to a tourist before resort manager Giulio Togni approached.

President Sata who was by the driveway at the resort later walked over to the hotel front office desk where he personally paid the bills accumulated by journalists, security and protocol officers from Zimbabwe and Zambia.

And when asked on the agenda of President Mugabe and Sata's meeting, George Chellah who is the President's special assistant for press and public relations said a communiqué would be issued later from Lusaka.

"The meeting was cordial and fruitful and we will give the details by 18:00 Saturday when I get back to Lusaka," Chellah said.

And scores of tourists jostled and begged to get a picture of President Mugabe who left at 16:06 amid tight security.

"Why did he come here like that? He should have sent someone," President Sata joked as he proceeded to pay the bills.

President Mugabe was seen off by Southern Province deputy permanent secretary Alfred Chiingi and police commissioner Brenda Mutemba before President Sata walked over 150 metres from his hotel suite to the lobby.

Labels: GEORGE CHELLAH, MICHAEL SATA, ROBERT MUGABE, VICTORIA FALLS

posted by MrK @ 3:13 PM