Maravi

Mulongoti takes on critics over ‘abuse of office’

Mulongoti takes on critics over ‘abuse of office’
By Patson Chilemba
Tue 03 Aug. 2010, 04:01 CAT

WORKS and supply minister Mike Mulongoti yesterday complained that his recent statement on the removal of abuse of office from the revised Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Act had become a subject of abuse.

Reacting to the criticism against his earlier statement that the offence of abuse of office should be removed because it had proved harmful in the management process, Mulongoti said he argued from a legal point of view, and those against his statement should also argue with a legal mind.

“I have a legal mind, those who want to criticise what I am saying must come to me and say ‘this is the way it should be done’. Not just saying ‘no, this is nonsense, this is what and what’. If they want to argue, they must argue from a legal position, not just using superlatives,” Mulongoti said.

“I would like to argue with the people using a legal position. It can enrich a discussion. It is not enough to call each other names, ‘no, he is a fool’. It is not part of my life.”

Mulongoti said he would appreciate people criticising him in a manner intended to correct the wrong they had seen in his statement.

He said people should argue from a point of knowledge, especially on matters that dealt with the law.

Mulongoti said it was not enough for people to run to The Post and call him a fool.

“You can’t progress that way. I would have loved people to say ‘let us go on Radio Phoenix and debate’ so that I can express myself. Let them also tell the public what their side of the argument is,” Mulongoti said.

“It is not just a question of just calling the person who says something on the matter ‘he is stupid. He is what'. What are you doing?”

Mulongoti also said his statement had become a subject of opinion by The Post.

However, he said people had not pointed out the defect in his statement.

“When I discussed that matter I did not mention anybody by name. I discussed the principle. But what happened was the reaction was to attack me as an individual. That is what I don’t agree with. You see, I have always been open and available to you and anybody who calls me so that we can discuss the issue. At the end of the day, what I get is abuse,” Mulongoti said.

“Once we have discussed, the next thing I see is the whole opinion of your paper condemning me, calling me names, accusing me of this. That is not fair.”

Mulongoti said The Post should encourage debate.

“If you don’t do that, those of us who talk to you will stop because once we talk to you, it becomes a subject of abuse. What I am telling you is encourage debate. Because the minute you move in after I have made a statement and start attacking me, it means you will close the debate on my side. Don’t take sides quickly,” Mulongoti said.

“You open up debate, ‘Mulongoti said this and this’, when the public have debated the issue, then form an opinion. But immediately you form an opinion from a paper, what you have done is you close the chapter because you have debated on behalf of the people. Why should the paper take sides quickly? By forming an opinion, they have taken sides quickly. They are inviting debate; let them be neutral in the first place.”

Mulongoti emphasised that The Post should only form an opinion once the people had effectively debated an issue.

“But what is happening is that the very minute I give an interview with you, the following day the whole page is about ‘Mulongoti and his stupidity. Mulongoti and his nonsense’. You are already inciting the public that whatever I said was nonsense, before the public can even participate by expressing their side of the argument,” Mulongoti said.

“I am saying you as a paper you have already expressed your opinion. But what you should do is encourage public debate. You will not encourage it by insulting one person, ‘Mulongoti said this, and he is a fool. Mulongoti nonsense’. What are you telling the public then? You have formed an opinion for them already.”

Mulongoti said he had always been cooperative when called upon, but every time he did so he became the subject of an opinion.

“And not only in a charitable way, but in a very uncharitable way: I have no quarrel with you people at The Post. That is why I talk to you. But at the end of the day, I am subjected to abuse. You are making me also withdraw like others who don’t want to talk to you on account of that,” said Mulongoti.

“I go to every radio station because I believe we must promote public debate. But when I do it and I become a subject of abuse, it is not fair to me.”

Mulongoti has in the recent past faced stern criticism over the statement he made that people were now afraid to make decisions for fear of being criminalised on account of the abuse of office clause.

Mulongoti said the clause had proved harmful in the management process and should, therefore, be removed from the ACC Act.

Labels: ACC, MIKE MULONGOTI

posted by MrK @ 4:01 AM