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Muteteka has insulted Rupiah, charges Teta

Muteteka has insulted Rupiah, charges Teta
Written by Katwishi Bwalya in Lusaka and Christopher Miti in Chipata
Wednesday, December 17, 2008 6:12:06 AM

MUTETEKA has insulted President Rupiah Banda by saying that his leadership is showing signs of failure, MMD spokesperson Benny Tetamashimba has said.
But Muteteka said he will always offer valuable advice to move the country forward instead of being a bootlicker.

Meanwhile, President Banda yesterday advised MMD members not to attack the party or the government once aggrieved.

Tetamashimba was commenting on Chisamba MMD member of parliament Moses Muteteka's statement that President Banda's confession that he was the only President of Zambia to face the kind of problems the country is going through today, was a sign of failure of his leadership. Tetamashimba said only Zambians will judge President Banda in 2011.

And Tetamashimba said MMD national chairman Michael Mabenga has since directed national secretary Katele Kalumba to charge Muteteka with indiscipline.

Tetamashimba said Mutetaka's statement has come because he is one of those people who were not happy to see President Banda being adopted as MMD presidential candidate.

“What Honourable Muteteka has said is gross indiscipline because the national chairman had given a directive that people should not speak on issues that have not been cleared. Not only that, Muteteka is not the mouthpiece of the party. The mouthpiece is myself. But what he has done, to be the person who can judge President Banda is unbecoming, to say the least,” Tetamashimba said.

He said there was a limit to everything and that Muteteka, who even worked at State House, should not have insulted the President like he did.

“We expect a person who was working at State House as special assistant to the late president to know when to attack the President,” Tetamashimba said. “Muteteka himself was a deputy minister and we expect him to know how to respect the President. He respected the former president, but why is he failing to do the same thing [with President Banda]?”

Tetamashimba said behind Muteteka, there could be other people.

“Behind that statement there could be other people. But we are happy as a party that strong characters from Central Province like General Shikapwasha are in total support of the government,” Tetamashimba said.

“So for Muteteka to say President Rupiah Banda made a mistake to swap Chituwo from health to agriculture and Simbao to health, I think that was not fair because the President appoints [people] not necessarily because of their qualifications but because he appoints people who he thinks are going to drive the vision,” Tetamashimba said.

He said Muteteka's questioning of President Banda's appointments of ministers was misleading because some people might think he was sent to complain on behalf of those ministers.

“Honourable Chituwo is very happy where he is and I am very happy of what he is doing as minister of agriculture. He has shared with me some of the vision he has for that ministry and I am very happy that he has a vision that will increase agriculture production,” Tetamashimba said.

“Muteteka is not the best person to judge President Rupiah Banda because when our late president was in hospital; I said that when he comes back we need to look at the leadership and he [Muteteka] was the first one attacking me. So what kind of an independent mind has he got when he belongs to a political party,” he asked.

Tetamashimba, however, said President Banda was not annoyed with Muteteka's statement because he had a big heart like his predecessor.

“President Banda is in Mfuwe and I am sure he had read the paper but I can tell you that he is not annoyed because he has a big heart like President Mwanawasa,” he said.

Tetamashimba said Muteteka had a forum at which he could have made the statement instead of rushing to the media. He said Muteteka could have used the MMD caucus or the parliamentary liaison committee to air his grievances.

Tetamashimba said it was unfortunate for Muteteka to start comparing late president Mwanawasa to President Banda.

“When the President admitted that he was facing a lot of problems, he did not mean he has failed to find solutions,” said Tetamashimba.

But Muteteka yesterday said he would wait and see how the party's disciplinary committee would handle the matter before he says anything further on the mater. He reiterated that he was elected member of parliament to speak and would continue to do so in order to help President Banda to deliver on many of his election promises.

Muteteka said a situation where President Banda is misled by some people should not be allowed and that MMD was a democratic party which should not stifle freedom of expression if people were to come up with suggestions to the country's problems.

And speaking during a closed door meeting with MMD cadres at Luangwa House in Chipata yesterday, President Banda said MMD members should follow the right procedure of presenting issues relating to the party or the government. According to sources, the President was commenting on Chisamba MMD member of parliament Moses Muteteka's remarks that his (President Banda) leadership was failing.

"The President did mention that he was just a party trustee and that he was just commenting on these issues because he felt that there was need to follow the right procedure when talking about party and government issues," the source said. During the closed door meeting, the MMD cadres chased a Times of Zambia stringer who went to the meeting venue after they mistook him for a Post reporter.

President Banda was yesterday expected to be featured on Radio Breeze after the programme failed to take off on Monday at 17 hours despite the radio station announcing about the programme several times.

According to sources, the programme failed because the President was locked up in a meeting at Luangwa House. President Banda is expected back in Lusaka today. And former Chipangali UNIP member of parliament Lucas Phiri yesterday advised President Banda to give hope to Zambians.

He said he was disappointed with President Banda's statement that he has faced more problems than all the previous presidents. Phiri said it was sad that President Banda was complaining about the problems instead of giving hope to the people and telling Zambians how he was going to respond to the challenges.

Labels: BENNY TETAMASHIMBA, MOSES MUTETEKA, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 6:11 AM