THE Government has said that it did not shun the laying of wreaths at late president Levy Mwanawasa's resting place.

Secretary to the Cabinet Joshua Kanganja said the Government had no reasons to shun the ceremony and that there was no notification indicating that Mrs Maureen Mwanawasa and her family were going to the Embassy Park to lay wreaths.

"I think it is wrong to say that the Government shunned the laying of wreaths at Embassy Park because there was no official notification," he said.

He explained that the Government recently organised a memorial service in honour of Dr Mwanawasa as part of its commitment to paying tribute to the former head of State.

Meanwhile, Mrs Mwanawasa on Thursday said it was impossible to compress the life of such a great leader like president Mwanawasa in one book. Speaking during the launch of a book about the life of her late husband, Mrs Mwanawasa said the story of Mr Mwanawasa was long.

At the same function, former president Kenneth Kaunda said the story of President Mwanawasa went beyond Zambia's borders. Dr Kaunda urged Zambians to cultivate the culture of reading because it was through reading that we learn about lives of great men and women.

He said books were of great value to human race because they contained important information that the general public needed to know and understand. Earlier author of the book entitled, 'Levy Mwanawasa, An Incentive for Posterity', Amos Malupenga said the president was a noble leader as well as a family man.

Mr Malupenga said he got closer and understood the late president's aspirations for a better Zambia during the course of interviewing him for his biography. He said it pained him to see people who were close to President Mwanawasa distancing themselves from championing the cause that the late president held with passion.

"It is a very big challenge to us all to uphold president Mwanawasa's legacy. There are lots of lessons we can extract from the way president Mwanawasa ruled this country," he said.

And South African based Zambian media Professor Fackson Banda, who edited the biography said there was need for past and current leaders of Zambia to avail themselves to writers so that their lives could be documented.

Prof Banda said there was need for Zambia's history as it relates to its leaders to be documented.