Maravi

Dr Musonda must be arrested – Sata

Dr Musonda must be arrested – Sata
By George Chellah
Fri 04 June 2010, 04:01 CAT

Information minister Ronnie Shikapwasha praying for PF cadre Jackson Musaka at UTH in Lusaka yesterday - Picture by Eddie Mwanaleza

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) leader Michael Sata yesterday said health deputy minister Dr Solomon Musonda must be arrested and prosecuted because attempted murder is a serious homicide case.

Commenting on Dr Musonda’s shooting and wounding of a PF cadre Jackson Musaka in Serenje during the week, Sata advised President Rupiah Banda to pay attention to the people’s calls on the need for the MMD to refrain from violence.

“Tell Rupiah that it’s difficult to build a nation but very easy to destroy. Therefore, an orchestrated violent campaign will not help him,” Sata said.

“People have been complaining over the MMD’s violence and they have been treating it like child’s play. But have you seen what has happened now? If a deputy minister, someone appointed by the President can go to such extremes as shooting a boy who is unarmed, then there is a big problem not only with the person himself but the appointing authority as well.”

Sata said President Banda would be laying himself naked when ministers commit crimes and he doesn’t do anything.

“This is worse than what Lameck Mangani did when he was demoted. But we don’t care whether Rupiah fires Solomon or not. We just want justice to be done and Solomon to be prosecuted,” Sata said. “Solomon must be arrested and prosecuted. Attempted murder is a very serious homicide case.”

Sata said PF was planning to report Dr Musonda to the Medical Council of Zambia so that he is disciplined.

“The behaviour of Solomon in this matter is disgraceful to the medical profession. Solomon is not a layman. He is a medical doctor by profession. And we all know that doctors are trained to save lives, and not to take that life,” Sata said. “How can a medical doctor be taking lives instead of saving? It’s clear here that Solomon aimed to kill the youngman. That’s why as PF we strongly feel that Solomon must be reported to the medical council because he is an embarrassment to the medical professional.

”How can a doctor even fail to apply first-aid on a victim? Is it normal for a person trained to save lives to run away from the scene after he had just shot someone? He ran away leaving that boy in pain. Who did he expect to attend to that casualty he single-handedly caused?”

Sata said the nation had already started reaping from the seeds of violence that were sown by Lusaka Province MMD chairman William Banda.

“Nobody is restraining William Banda, not even Rupiah. So William has already found a disciple in Solomon and one will be correct to conclude that William is succeeding with his campaign of terror,” he said. “He has been going round with guns and now ministers are doing the same. The question is where is the police?”
Sata dismissed MMD spokesperson Dora Siliya’s insinuation that PF cadres attacked Dr Musonda.

“Tell Dora that we are dealing with human life here and not Zamtel or RP Capital issues. As a mother, Dora must be sympathetic with that boy who is in pain at UTH and not what she is saying,” Sata said. “Let her tell us why Solomon has not been arrested. She should not be talking about that innocent boy like that. Who is violent between the shooter and the victim? The cadres were not violent because if they were violent, why didn’t they attack the vehicle? Solomon himself has no scratch on his body. Even the vehicle he was driving when you see it today, it’s unscratched. Even when the vehicle returned with the police they never stoned it. So what violence are they talking about?

“The only crime those youths committed was to demand for an explanation from Solomon on why he has not delivered on his campaign promises. Those cadres never fought or even pinched Solomon because if they did, he would have spoken that ‘I was attacked’. B
But he is quiet.”

Labels: CADRES, MURDER, PF, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, SATA, SOLOMON MUSONDA

posted by MrK @ 6:00 AM