President Michael Sata has declared three days of national mourning in honour of the late Information and Broadcasting Services Minister and Chief Government Spokesperson Kennedy Sakeni who died in the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) yesterday.
President Sata said the three days of national mourning commence on Sunday, 8th September and will run through to Tuesday, 10th September, 2013.
This is contained in a statement made available to ZANIS in Lusaka today by Secretary to the Cabinet Roland Msiska.
The Head of State said during this period, which starts from 06:00 hours to 18:00 hours until the burial day, all flags will fly at half-mast and activities of entertainment nature should be postponed or canceled.
The late Mr. Sakeni, who died at the age of 56, will be put to rest on Tuesday, 10th September, 2013 and burial arrangements will be communicated later.
He said the burial of Mr. Sakeni will be preceded by a requiem service at the Cathedral of the Child Jesus on Sunday 8thSeptember at 12:30 hours.
Mr. Sakeni has since been accorded a state funeral in accordance with guidelines on state functions.
The late minister was also Mansa Central Patriotic Front (PF) Member of Parliament and party’s chairman for Luapula province.
Mr. Sakeni was transferred to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services as Minister on 6th July 2012 from the Ministry of Home Affairs where he served in the same capacity.
Mr. Sakeni died yesterday at the University teaching (UTH) in Lusaka and leaves behind a wife and thirteen children.
The funeral is being held at his residence, house number 5369, Brentwood Drive in Lusaka’s Woodlands area.
Meanwhile, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has said the death of Mr. Sakeni was a blow to the media industry.
MISA chairperson Nalumino Nalumino said the late Mr. Sakeni had a heart for the media and journalists at large.
In a message of condolences to the late Mr. Sakeni’s family, President Michael Sata and the nation, Mr. Nalumino said the late minister believed in dialogue and engagement on issues of freedom of expression.
He stressed that late Mr. Sakeni understood the importance of the press in sustaining Zambia’s democracy and good governance.
MISA has since described the death of late Information and Broadcasting Services minister as shocking.
ZANIS
This is ridiculous. How can this crazy chap sekani be given 3 days of taxpayers national morning. What is going on in Zambia????
Whether you like it or not ….he was your minister.
@ bricklayer
zambia is not HH’s farm stanyakoho, let people mourn the miniter
let him …..and new news from ZTCU Facked MINISSTR
At this rate, the country should just be declared as in national mourning 365 days!
i hope the body wl be brought back to mansa so that we mourn wth the sakani’s family. we wl always miss u our MP. mhsrip.
Thirteen Children,are they all from one wife? African men!
This is bullish it. so what we hear is true???????even the him can be same loloolo
ZWD.
Kekekekekeke
Oh my God!
13 children? Iam sure there must be more than that number, nowonder he is a gonna, he abused himself too much.
I feel sorry for PF. They lose Sakeni, they lose Mkaika and now they are losing to Ghana. Its a hat trick of loses. Pwaaaaaaaaaaahaaaahahahahahaha!
Only THE GULLIBLE are surprised about the match in Kumasi…stats don’t lie!!
What a JOKE!!
We need a policy on who should be awarded national mourning…as this is getting out of hand…no wonder productivity is very low in our country. What happened to just flying the flags at half mast as a mark of respect.
MHSRIP, Condolences to the family, though the man became a nonsense. He did not live to his principles. Anyhow we mourn with the Sakeni family in accord to Zambian values. “Not to celebrate Death” else would have been big party.
Why waste so much time? People die everyday. When President Reagan died, he only got a single day of mourning. Why give this minister three days? For what? The country needs to work to make money especially for those in entertainment industry. Why waste their time?
SATA IS A DEVIL. HE GIVES THREE DAYS OF MORNING TO A MINISTER AND NONE TO THE MAN OF GOD MAZOMBWE, HE IS VERY VINDICTIVE PERSON. PLEASE GIVE US ANOTHER DEVIL WE ARE FED UP OF IDIOCY SATA IS CURRENTLY EXHIBITING
You dont compare oranges and eggs
13 children ka? I remember one of them who used to be a runner in Mansa. By the way how much is short time in Mansa now?
1 pin
My condolencies to the sakani family…… Plz be wise stop invoving president sata in ur no sense words he did well to diclays three days sakeni was ur leader
I am personally touched by the death of sakeni. I used to follow the mans life. why he entered politics even with a thrilling manganese mine, making billions a month, makes me wonder wonder. how he had to be evacuated to indias so late yet with so much money makes me wonder.
something was terribly wrong with his judgement.
politics was not his game, but his health and business.
much said, I do know the brother did not add value to Zambian people’s life, but was an insider who promoted bemba hegemony and has contributed to the coming downfall of PF
13 or 31 children?
Ya Mwina Luapula uyu? Hope he left a Will for all these children left behind. Not utulumba theats to surviving family members.
Rest in peace honorable. Advice to the family is to ignore all negative statements posted on the web by uncultured people. There are some people who were raised like animals and this means, they will not be mindful of the occassion and just yap yap unproductively. And we cant change them, even if we took their brains for remodelling, panel beating, rehabilitation-we will still have the same product.