Mulongoti threatens to sort out The Post if Rupiah wins

Mulongoti threatens to sort out The Post if Rupiah wins
By Mwala Kalaluka in Solwezi
Tuesday September 30, 2008 [04:00]

INFORMATION minister Mike Mulongoti has threatened to sort out The Post after next month's presidential elections. Addressing a rally at Solwezi Showgrounds yesterday, Mulongoti - in an apparent reference to The Post - said after the MMD wins the presidential election on October 30, they would ask Vice-President Rupiah Banda to go out of the country for a while so that on his return, Vice-President Banda would find all the problems sorted out.

"That is why some newspapers have gone on a field day writing what they are writing about," Mulongoti said. "I will say to him, 'when we win elections, just leave the country for a while and you will find that we will have sorted all these problems'."

Mulongoti's statement sent some people at the high table into laughter. These included commerce minister Felix Mutati, North-Western Province minister Kenneth Chipungu, sports deputy minister Richard Taima, former works and supply minister Ludwig Sondashi, Solwezi mayor Emmanuel Chihili, losing MMD presidential candidate Caine Mweemba, and members of MMD provincial executive committee, among others.
And Sondashi advised Vice-President Banda to ignore what some newspapers were writing about him.

"My brother Rupiah Banda, don't listen to what is being written in some newspapers because it is what they used to do even for your predecessor. They used to write bad things about him but what they are writing about the late president Levy Mwanawasa, it is as if he was an angel," Sondashi said. "He Vice-President Banda will make a great leader. At this age, no one can afford to be careless."

And Sondashi threatened to beat up anybody who would mention Patriotic Front president Michael Sata's name in his presence.
Vice-President Banda's election agent Benny Tetamashimba justified Sondashi's threats saying it would be the right thing to do.

In response, Vice-President Banda clapped and later avoided mentioning Sata's name as he addressed a fairly attended rally. But at one point, in an apparent reference to Sata, Vice-President Banda described him as "a big, black snake with red eyes and a red tongue".

Vice-President Banda said he would respond to his critics by working hard when he gets into office. He said he saw many similarities between what was happening to him now and the way president Mwanawasa was vilified by some sections of society when he was campaigning to become president in 2001.

Meanwhile, a Solwezi resident was whisked away by police officers after he consistently disagreed with Sondashi's statement that UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema had no political experience. The man was taken out of the arena.