SATA Uses PERSONAL MONEY To PAY His Hotel BILLS

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.

The Post

Posted by Editor on December 7, 2011. Filed under LATEST NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

75 Responses to SATA Uses PERSONAL MONEY To PAY His Hotel BILLS

man .T

December 8, 2011 at 12:34 am

What kind of a presidet is that who pays bills while the order of protocal is there. very bad manners there is nothing like paying for the hotel what we want is change in the country not the change of airports but serious changes we want of more money.
Mind you we are still counting down.
SIDO

December 8, 2011 at 2:27 am

Pipo learn to appreciate kwaliba we muntu wulefwaya wende muli na ninety days it is not easy but at least most of the the corrupt issues r tackled. Nanomba ta mwaishiba ati shi micheal mukali akasova economy and you will be ashamed you guys mwimubika pa speed umufyashi tekanyeni bane first mushikulule impiya shonse and then circulation will be even tamumfwa ne nsoni ukusapota the so called pact,take your time mukesatuposha.no mwaice knows that MMD messed up the economy but u r pretending awe kuti wadabwa mwe.
Zebige

December 8, 2011 at 3:48 am

Bashi K mukombo bukala mputi.Osa nibelesha bassop.Umunwe pakunya.Zebige styopido is a nice man.
kashinga muselela

December 8, 2011 at 5:04 am

That is the spirit mr president no more thieving .Do not allow those criminals to keep on stealing.Put a stop to it
Tutombeko.com

December 8, 2011 at 5:22 am

Anyone who can seperate these tonga words into prefixes & suffixes:Hachinena,Hamatako,Hamapolo,Hatomba,Habemba,Hakainde,Habarotse,Hampombo,Hanyele,Hanyenga,Hanya,Hamafi,hahahahahaha ha what???? This assignment is due 24 th October 2016.Hard luck!!! LMFAO!
kanono

December 8, 2011 at 6:06 am

Mmd u see no gud of PF we knw u by yo comments.
sheldon

December 8, 2011 at 6:48 am

Which personal money? He knows that he will recover that more than 100 times.
Educated

December 8, 2011 at 7:14 am

Mr. President check the recept you got from Royal Livingstone… There is no VAT regstration number, meaning they don’t pay ku ZRA! HH wanya walasebana!
maria

December 8, 2011 at 7:16 am

he has a sense of humour this president
Airtime Phiri

December 8, 2011 at 7:49 am

Did he pay the bill with cash or did he use a credit card. If credit card, do we know that is was his personal credit card? just wondering
matcox

December 8, 2011 at 8:55 am

That is good start and please continue Mr President sir.commend where it is due and criticize where necessary.A time to commend indeed!
weno

December 8, 2011 at 8:56 am

Let him as well pay for the expenses the time he will travel abroad.
The voice of Reason

December 8, 2011 at 9:18 am

President moving around with cash…. that’s nonsense
Zebb Mpinganjira

December 8, 2011 at 9:20 am

Commedable, those who have been stealing by inflating costs are done. The President knows all those loopholes and they wil only regret.

Kudos Mr. President.
Mother-Something!

December 8, 2011 at 9:30 am

Chi Sata weo….Nikukonda over Chimufyashi iwe…u inspire me. show us how to do it right tate.
Mr don

December 8, 2011 at 9:41 am

Even Bikiloni is better, i have never seen such a president before. Thats why when Sata won the Malawians said “ku Zambia bavotela cigewenga”. its fun who is going to save us from this mess
4bia

December 8, 2011 at 10:12 am

Great thats whats commendable whether with a credit card or cash!!thats humility…
Jomie

December 8, 2011 at 10:25 am

It will still come back to him anyway so it is just a gimmick.
mpnd

December 8, 2011 at 10:34 am

With all due respect,there are systems in place to protect the president, there is nothing wrong with him querying a bill, but the bill compounded with jumping on the mini bus those come out to me like stunts of an opposition leader trying to prove a point.HE Sata is now President. without systems we have anarchy the president has to realize that his title is not just a title but a constitutional office. if God forbid something happened to him on that bus how much would be spent on medical care how far will that set us back is the risk worth the saving? I think not.lets get serious & not support things blindly.
PF

December 8, 2011 at 10:47 am

What personal money, he was given imprest. That was the money he was using.
correcternox

December 8, 2011 at 11:07 am

your sinnnns will catch up with you as long as systems are not laid down to curb corruption.the president paying a bill is mare acting.for how long is he going to act.5 years patali. lets see proper policies and see to it that they are implemented.
Vilifier

December 8, 2011 at 12:23 pm

Oh please we are not kids, I am surprised the post newspaper bouaght this, or are they a part of the gimmick
We_shall_see

December 8, 2011 at 1:31 pm

Mr President and his cheap politics as usual. Let him start paying state house bills as well since his whole clan is there.
There’s no reason to parade himself in that manner. Iwe kapaso Goerge Chellah, messege for your bwana. Let him spend more time at improving health institutions in the country. He’s the same one thats going to use millions if not billions of tax payers money seeking treatment outside Zambia when that same money can be channelled to health institutions where he can proudly go as head of state and be attended to by one of our many qualified doctors and proud nurses. Surely, tamfumfwa ensoni as government leaders going outside Zambia spending other peoples money to foot your medical bills. If you can’t sleep on a UTH bed, why let the poor tax payer sleep on that same bed you shun?
These are some of the things you PF guys need to take into consideration. You wanna pay your hotel bills, fine! Well be prepared to also cover your own medical bills should you decide to seek medical treatment outside the country.
You all seem to turn a blind eye on the health sector, yet knowing very well that we all get sick at some point in time and most of you are patients and need those services more than others. Funny enough you even hear MP’s passing motions in the house asking how much it costed the government to evacuate someone, or total costs of bring back the body home, really?
dnice

December 8, 2011 at 1:48 pm

i hope the president will also offer to pay for his tickets when he travels abroad, ie if he ever will. my only worry is how he will perform there, fingers crossed. its been almost 3 months and he has not done any proper international engagement just engaging himself with trivial home matters. He sure has no idea how to tackle corruption. something also tells me that our president is scared to he will just embarrass himself on international platform. he is not an orator like the late president chiluba. he needst to sharpen on his spoken language, his mouth is too full of bemba, please please someone help him before our nation is put to shame
Boza

December 8, 2011 at 4:20 pm

He pays his own bills and rides on minibus to save GRZ money and yet he still wants GRZ to sponsor MPs to resign from their parties so we can have bi-elections! That’s hypocricy. This guy is a joker…has always been and will always be. What a country!