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Mulongoti explains Shakas, Chibombamilimo’s expulsion

Mulongoti explains Shakas, Chibombamilimo’s expulsion
Written by Patson Chilemba
Friday, March 06, 2009 6:29:23 PM

MMD chairman for elections Mike Mulongoti yesterday said expelled Jonas Shakafuswa and Lameck Chibombamilimo were causing a lot of discomfort in the party.

Justifying the expulsion of party members of parliament Shakafuswa [Katuba Constituency] and Chibombamilimo [Mpulungu], Mulongoti said discipline in the MMD could not be compromised because the ruling party should show stability and collectivity. He said any smell of indiscipline should be stopped immediately before it infected the organisation.

"Those people were bringing a lot of discomfort in the party. Even you, do you criticise the boss of your organisation in public? I would advise you not to, because once you do you will be out of that place," he said.

Mulongoti also justified his opposition to MMD national secretary Katele Kalumba's proposal to follow procedure in handling the matter involving Shakafuswa and Chibombamilimo, saying several disciplinary committees had been raised in the past and that people could sometimes get instant dismissals from their organisations.

Mulongoti further justified the huge cost that would be incurred on the by-elections in an event that the Speaker of the National Assembly declared the duo's seats vacant.

"The times we have said it's too costly they have said it is not your money," Mulongoti said. "Let me tell you, the NCC [National Constitutional Conference] is sitting right now at great cost and the reason is to explore the cheapest way of replacing members of parliament."

On Patriotic Front (PF) vice-president Guy Scott's statement that Mulongoti and others in the MMD condemned PF's action to expel 'rebel' members of parliament for indiscipline but that the ruling party had used the same grounds to expel their members, Mulongoti responded: "If PF can tell us that they stopped when we criticised, we could have taken a leaf. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. All I'm saying is that the question of discipline cannot be compromised."

On Shakafuswa's statement that President Rupiah Banda won a crooked election but the people would now teach him a lesson during the Katuba by-election, Mulongoti questioned Shakafuswa's morality.

Mulongoti wondered why Shakafuswa only brought out the issue after being expelled from the MMD.

The MMD on Tuesday expelled Shakafuswa and Chibombamilimo from the party for alleged indiscipline and bringing the party into ridicule.

Announcing their expulsion at a press briefing, Kalumba said the duo had repeatedly and arrogantly made pronouncements and conducted themselves in ways that had placed the party into disrepute.

Shakafuswa and Chibombamilimo were last Thursday fired by President Banda from their positions as science and technology and energy deputy ministers respectively, in front of MMD cadres that marched to State House to express their solidarity with the head of state. A visibly agitated President Banda also warned that he would take the duo's names to the party national executive committee (NEC) where he would have them removed from the party and later follow them to their constituencies where he would defeat them.

But reacting to his expulsion from the party, Shakafuswa said President Banda was a very weak and scared person. Shakafuswa said he would not seek legal action over his expulsion because he wanted to teach President Banda and his minions in MMD a lesson.

And MMD national secretary Katele Kalumba yesterday stated that the MMD's resolve to maintain discipline in the party was undivided.

In a statement, Kalumba noted that any efforts to suggest that there were differences in the approach to instilling discipline in the party would not succeed.

"The party leadership is aware that such efforts to try and divide the leadership of the party will continue. But let the perpetrators know that the party has fully fledged capacity to monitor and track down misinformers. Therefore, they are best advised to desist from their characteristic tendencies of divide and rule. The MMD is fully behind the President and shall execute decisions of the NEC," stated Kalumba.

On Wednesday, NEC sources revealed that President Banda and several NEC members on Tuesday opposed Kalumba's proposal to follow procedure in handling the matter involving Shakafuswa and Chibombamilimo.

Labels: JONAS SHAKAFUSWA, LAMECK CHIBOMBAMILIMO, MIKE MULONGOTI, MMD

posted by MrK @ 6:30 PM