Maravi

Ministers who didn't support Banda face dismissal threats

Ministers who didn't support Banda face dismissal threats
By Chibaula Silwamba
Thursday September 11, 2008 [04:00]

TOURISM minister Michael Kaingu has revealed that he and other ministers are being threatened with dismisal because they are perceived not to have supported Vice-President Rupiah Banda during the adoption process.

In an interview on Tuesday, Kaingu said there were some MMD members who had campaigned for Vice-President Banda's adoption that were now threatening other party members perceived to have supported other candidates for the MMD presidential candidature.

"What is going on right now from some of our party members where we have now got to be told 'You! you didn't support RB, you did what and what...' But that is not healthy in a democracy," Kaingu complained.

"Right now, there are people who believe that they are the ‘A’ team for the acting President; they are behaving as if they own him. In fact, these people will make it very difficult for him to govern. They are there. They are not victimising me but the talk is not healthy in a democratic party that has delivered a candidate."

Kaingu advised that there was no need for people to be jostling for ministerial positions at this point but concentrate on campaigns for the MMD to win the October 30 elections.

Kaingu said MMD was a mature and democratic party whose members should concentrate on ensuring that Vice-President Banda won elections before members started to share jobs.

"When we were looking for a candidate, there were some people who thought RB was a better candidate and there were some people who thought that finance minister Ng'andu Magande was a better candidate or other people who thought that Sebastian Kopulande or Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha was a better candidate,” Kaingu said.

“This is healthy, it has happened in US where Hillary Clinton campaigned so vigorously against Barack Obama but now you can see that Hillary has come to campaign for Obama as members of one party.

I strongly believe that if Obama wins, definitely Hillary will get a job. Now those who were campaigning for RB didn't mean that they hated Magande or those who were campaigning for Magande hated RB or the other contenders. No!"

Kaingu said now that the MMD had Vice-President Banda as its candidate, all members should rally behind him.

"Once we have campaigned for him and we win, that is the time people should expect job sharing if there will be any jobs to share because when we got jobs from the late president Levy Mwanawasa, I purely believe that it was on merit and we are willing to serve under President Banda to continue the legacy of the late president," Kaingu said. "It will be entirely up to him to choose his own team…

People should not fight for jobs which are not there or call each other names or betraying each other to the Acting President, it's not necessary. Let us kill the animal first before we can share the meat."

Kaingu said when people in Western Province pledged to vote for Vice- President Banda, they meant what they said and would definitely give him 100 per cent of the votes there.

"For us, we are all for RB. You have heard Magande has said it himself that he will campaign for RB. For me, I have no problem, I will deliver the whole Sesheke district to RB. He is going to win," Kaingu assured.

However, Kaingu recalled that during the 2006 presidential elections, there were some MMD members that secretly campaigned for opposition Patriotic Front president Michael Sata.

"We know that in 2006, there were people who during the day were campaigning for president Mwanawasa and at night they were campaigning for president Sata. We know that, it's not a secret and I know that such people could still exist even now," said Kaingu.

"For now, it is important that since we have a candidate, we must all work very hard to ensure that our candidate wins. Thereafter, those who think that they can take our jobs, they can get our jobs."

Labels: MICHAEL KAINGU, MINISTERS, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 7:04 AM