I love my
job, it takes to me to places within and outside Zambia and most times in the
city of my dwelling- Lusaka.
Last week
I was privileged to be invited to a workshop that was being undertaken by a
certain NGO on Advocacy and as usual the workshops are almost always being held
in a lodge somewhere.
So in the
last couple of years, there has been an upsurge of lodges in the city of Lusaka
and competition is high amongst all of them. The newer the Lodge the nicer it
is, the older the loge the seedier it gets.
One of
the best Lodges in the recent past has been Mika Lodge owned by a young and
prolific entrepreneur this country has ever seen. If am not mistaken , it
started with The Mika Lodge in Jesmondine area, very nice little place, then
came the one in Kabulonga. When both started off, I can say for sure that the
standards were top class.
In the
recent times though I have been very disappointed with many of these lodges
including Mika Lodge, my shock came last
week at the latter when I was attending a workshop there.... My first shock
came at lunch time when guests queued up for lunch. If that queue didn't curl
itself up I swear it could have reached the gates of either entrances.
After
quite a sumptuous lunch, I need to refresh myself before the afternoon sessions
began. I went to the conveniences and of course wanted to relieve myself, I sat
on the toilet seat and almost feel off it literally, laughable but serious hey.
Something is terribly wrong somewhere, the whole toilet actually shakes and one
has to be careful to sit on it gives that shaky feel like you will fall off it.
Is this the Mika Lodge I know? A clear case of Kuyamba timayambwino, but poor
finishing!
Okay I
know I wasn’t one of the organizers of the conference or anything, but such
things really get to me. How can a Hotel handle guests like that? So I took it
upon myself to speak to the Hotel authorities. Me being me, I asked to see the
manager of the Hotel, was told he was out, I asked to see the next person after
him. In came a smart gentleman that asked how he could be of help, I said yes
he needed my attention, I asked how they could allow such mediocrity by
allowing guests to queue like that for lunch. He explained that it wasn’t their
fault that it was actually the fault of the organizers as they do not come out
on their stated time. I explained to him that I had been to the hotel several
times before and they had two serving bays and at one point they even had three
serving points, the gentleman told me that has never happened. I argued with
him that then he must be new at the Hotel because I was definitely not
hallucinating.
Well, the
gentleman promised to fix the problem and that we would not experience that in
the coming days. And voila, the problem was sort of sorted the next day but not
because he put measures in place, it was because there were fewer meetings
taking place on that day.
Now as if
the long queues were not enough on the first day, second day was even more disturbing,
for desert, there was burnt cake! Yes burnt cake! As you can see from the
picture. Like really!!! If someone told me this story I would not have believed
but I saw it for myself and took the photos with my phone.
Again as
if that wasn’t shocking enough, as we came from lunch going up the stairs to
our meeting room, right there in the corner I saw our Juice dispenser (am
saying our, because it came from our meeting room), even more shocking, there
was no lid on it. Again, I had to take pictures for evidence. I even mentioned
to my colleagues and they too had seen it, It looked like it was actually coming
to our room. Like is this for real? What happened to the Mika we knew with all its
standards and
All.
What I
know for sure is that the young entrepreneur who owns the chain of Hotels
inspires a lot of young people apart from just creating jobs for the many
Zambians. Am also told he has gone international in Rwanda and Chaina ( so I
hear) I pray he takes actions and does some ass kicking before the Hotels are
run down. Congratulations are in order also, as am also told there’s a
convention Centre am yet to visit in Lusaka East somewhere, am informed the
Convention Centre is state-of-the-art.
Mr. Mikalile
has greatly contributed to the economy of this country, I just pray he keeps
the standards as he continues to expand his empire.
Till next
time!!
P.s.
Eating places watch out… Next time it’ll be you!
