Late Home Affairs deputy minister Misheck Bonshe’s widow, Regina has said she is deeply hurt by people who are alleging that the government neglected her husband at the time he was ill, in order to gain political mileage.
Mrs Bonshe said her family received support from the government and the MMD during her husband’s illness. She said her late husband should be left to rest in peace. She dismissed assertions that the government condemned and neglected her husband at the time he was hospitalised at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka.
“Politicians using the name of my late husband should stop because he had no problems with the government. If anything the government representatives were always there to support us. They were always there both emotionally and spiritually. So it is unfair for some politicians to use his name for their selfish gains without considering our feelings,” she said.
She said in an interview in Lusaka that she was hurt and saddened by some people who were using the name of her late husband to gain political support. Mrs Bonshe said she was still mourning her husband and expected people to respect her and the children’s feelings during the trying period. She said it was unfair to her and the children for politicians to use Mr Bonshe’s death to scandalise the government.
Mrs Bonshe said although she had tried to ignore the media comments from some politicians about the death of her husband, the persistence forced her to speak out and tell the nation the truth.
“When he was sick the MMD leadership and ministers, especially Home Affairs Minister Lameck Mangani and his deputy, Mr David Phiri were always at hand visiting my husband and this cannot be ignored,” she said.
She explained that from the time her husband was buried in Mufumbwe, only ministers’ spouses and MMD party women had continued to visit her at her home.
“I want to take this opportunity to inform the nation that my husband was a Christian and a peaceful man. His vision was to see a peaceful and united Zambia and I don’t think if he was alive he would like his name to be drawn in the mud,” she said. She said Mr Bonshe had so much confidence in the MMD leadership and President Rupiah Banda and did not have any problem with the government, contrary to media reports.
In the last edition of the Sunday Post, the brother of Mr Bonshe was reported to have said he only saw leaders of opposition parties at the time Mr Bonshe was hospitalised in UTH and that there was no Cabinet minister who visited the late deputy minister in hospital.
He was also quoted as having said the government had condemned Mr Bonshe to death.
Health Minister Kapembwa Simbao has also expressed shock and disappointment over the allegations, describing the reports as a political gimmick aimed at tarnishing the image of the government.
Mr Simbao said having visited Mr Bonshe five times at UTH, he was surprised that some people were claiming that Cabinet ministers never visited him.
He advised politicians not to politicise Mr Bonshe’s death.
[Times of Zambia]
