Maravi

Be more charitable, Mulongoti asks Nawakwi

Be more charitable, Mulongoti asks Nawakwi
Written by Patson Chilemba
Tuesday, June 02, 2009 11:56:10 PM

WORKS and supply minister Mike Mulongoti on Tuesday asked FDD president Edith Nawakwi to be more charitable in her criticism of President Rupiah Banda's government, saying MMD did not solicit for her support during last year's presidential elections.

And Mulongoti said it is a lie for Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata to assert that President Rupiah Banda's image builders were lodged at Henry Kapoko's Best Home Lodge during campaigns for the elections.

In an interview, Mulongoti said Nawakwi should not be harsh in her criticism of President Banda's government because she might need the MMD’s support in future.

He said Nawakwi had in the recent past been criticizing President Banda's government but that it was not up to her to decide on which direction government should take.

Mulongoti described Nawakwi as a neighbor who fought for the MMD but whose support was not solicited for.

Asked to clarify if MMD did not solicit for Nawakwi’s support, Mulongoti responded: "I was the campaign manager, solicited for by who? All those who thought they could push the agenda came on their own, and we are grateful, but it doesn’t mean that they should come into the house to say . . . today, you must eat this and tomorrow that". Tomorrow they might need our support. If they can be a little bit more charitable about the way they talk about us, don't you think we shall also be charitable to them? We must be charitable to each other. We can criticize each other but not harshly."

On Nawakwi's statement that President Banda had probably said he was happy with calls for him to stand so that he could stand up one day and say, "the people wanted me to stand but I am not standing", and show people that there was honour in retirement, Mulongoti said although Nawakwi was entitled to her own opinion, he did not understand what she meant by retirement in politics.

He said there were several politicians who were still serving even in their 90s.

Mulongoti said the decision on who should be President rested with the Zambian people.

Recently, Nawakwi said the understanding of those who campaigned for President Banda was that he would be a transitional President.

Nawakwi also criticized President Banda's concept of mobile hospitals saying it was an exercise in futility, which was bound to have disastrous consequences.

And Mulongoti said people should take whatever Sata said with a pinch of salt.

He said President Banda's image builders did not, at any time, lodge at Kapoko's lodge.

"If all the things he said were true, he would have entered in the Guiness book. We take whatever he says with a pinch of salt. I don’t even know where Kapoko's lodge is. They never did [lodge at Kapoko's lodge] because as campaign manager I should have visited them," Mulongoti said.

On Monday, Sata dared the MMD to refute that they never used Kapoko’s Best Home Lodge during the campaigns.

On former communications and transport minister Dora Siliya’s continued stay in a government house, Mulongoti said Siliya had surrendered back the GRZ vehicle to the government and would be moving out of the house mid this month.

He said he authorized Siliya to stay longer in a government house because he did not think it would be proper to be harsh on her when she had just lost her ministerial job.

"I am a Zambian like anybody else. She lost her ministerial job and is still a member of parliament on the MMD ticket. I don't think it would be proper for me to be harsh because she is still a Zambian. She's also entitled like any other. This has been applied before, it was not the first time it was being done,” said Mulongoti. “How would people react if they found me in the streets with police officers removing her property?"

Labels: EDITH NAWAKWI, MIKE MULONGOTI

posted by MrK @ 10:59 PM