Maravi

Mulongoti defends Mulyata for breaking the law

Mulongoti defends Mulyata for breaking the law
By Noel Sichalwe
Friday July 20, 2007 [04:00]

People should not rush to call for Southern Province minister Joseph Mulyata's dismissal over the GBM saga before considering the circumstances surrounding the issue, information minister Mike Mulongoti has said. Mulongoti, who is also chief government spokesperson, told Muvi Television on Wednesday that the Road Development Agency (RDA) was investigating the matter involving Lusaka businessman Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba popularly known as GMB and Mulyata concerning GBM's bus that was released at Mulyata's instructions at the Livingstone weighbridge last week without paying the fine after it was impounded for overloading.

Mulongoti said he did not want to predetermine the investigations into the matter.

He, however, said when considering punishment, people should be careful not to rush to judge Mulyata because his decision to direct the release of the bus might have been made on humanitarian grounds so that passengers could not be stranded.
He said Mulyata might have used his discretion to protect innocent people who were on the bus and could have been stranded through no fault of their own.
However, the Statutory Instrument number 28 of 2007 states: "The owner of the vehicle and cargo detained shall be responsible for the vehicle and cargo detained at a weighbridge station and the Agency shall not be held responsible for any loss or theft or cargo or vehicle whilst the vehicle and cargo are detained at the weighbridge."
And when asked, in an interview yesterday, what humanitarian grounds Mulyata might have considered in the light of the Statutory Instrument, Mulongoti said there was need to separate the guilty from the innocent passengers. He said the innocent passengers could not suffer on account of the erring driver and perhaps that was why Mulyata directed the bus to leave.

After being reminded that the bus was detained for three days and released on the fourth day and that there were no stranded passengers to talk about, Mulongoti said when he made a statement on Muvi Television, he was not aware that the bus was impounded for many days.
He said he had earlier justified the release of GBM's bus because he did not realise that the bus was impounded for three days.

"I just made that statement and I went," he said. "I did not know that the bus was impounded for so long and that there were no passengers."
Asked whether it was justified for humanitarian grounds to override the law, Mulongoti said: "You don't punish the innocent passengers on account of the guilty. That is how we exercise morality."

"If there was a mistake on the matter, the bus was supposed to be impounded. You should be aware that in exercising the law, there could be innocent people who might be affected and they should be protected. For me, I didn't know that the passengers were already released when this issue was going on."

Asked whether it was right to release a bus which was impounded for overloading without paying the fine, Mulongoti said he could not support any wrong doing in the GBM and Mulyata saga.

"The principle is that what happened was a mistake," he said. "For now we must allow all the views to come out and that appropriate powers need to make a decision. The law does not exist in a vacuum and if a mistake is made, it had to be dealt with."

GBM last week phoned Mulyata asking him to direct the RDA to release his bus after it was impounded for overloading without paying the penalty fine.

And on a Sky FM Radio phone-in programme yesterday, many callers demanded that GBM and Mulyata should be punished for conniving to break the law.

A caller from Lusaka named Banda said Mulyata was a questionable minister who should not continue to be in office. Banda said GBM did not have a lot of money as he claimed because he had not done anything to improve the suffering majority in Zambia.

Another caller from Lusaka, Mark, said if MMD spokesperson Ben Tetamashimba has asked Copperbelt MMD chairman Terrence Findlay to resign after being placed under investigations for the alleged defilement, why was Mulyata still kept in the office.

Another caller named George said Mulyata and GBM had broken the law and should be taken to court where they needed to face justice.
A caller who chose to be anonymous said Mulyata has not changed from the days they used to trade together at Lusaka's town centre market. He said Mulyata should be punished for allowing an overloaded bus to pass through the weighbridge without paying a fine.
Tembo from Monze said the incident at Livingstone weighbridge was unfortunate and that Mulyata had failed to behave in the manner befitting his office.

Another anonymous caller condemned Mulongoti for a making a premature statement justifying the release of the bus without paying the stipulated fine for the offence. The caller said Mulongoti was not supposed to comment before investigations were completed. He wondered why GBM failed to pay a fine of K7.9 million when he claimed to be rich. He said GBM was violent even when campaigning for the Kabwata parliamentary seat last year.

Labels: JOSEPH MULYATA, MIKE MULONGOTI

posted by MrK @ 6:23 AM