Maravi

Rupiah is feeling the heat - Mulongoti

Rupiah is feeling the heat - Mulongoti
By Patson Chilemba
Wed 11 May 2011, 04:01 CAT

RUPIAH Banda has been hit hard and is feeling the heat from the calls for change
of government, says Mike Mulongoti.

Reacting to President Banda’s attacks on him that he was a frustrated man whose
tricks had caught up with him, Mulongoti said President Banda was feeling the
pressure that people everywhere wanted change.

“He President Banda has come out hard on himself. We are excited by the
prospects of change. He has been doing everything possible to stop that change,
but it is not working. So he is the one who is frustrated, not us. For us, we
are excited, but he’s being frustrated by calls for change that are coming from
all over the country,” he said.

Mulongoti said he was merely amplifying the calls from the people that they did
not want to continue with President Banda in office.
“In fact, what you should say is that we are happy he has responded the way he
has. It is an indication that he is getting our message and the message of the
people for change,” he said.

Asked why he did not resign on his own if he believed the MMD would lose the
election as observed by President Banda, Mulongoti said had he done so, people
would have accused him that he was jumping ship because he had seen that the
ship was sinking.

He said he spoke boldly for democracy in the MMD when he was minister.
“He just helped me. So he can’t blame me for being out when he helped me out of
a ship that was evident it was not going anywhere,” Mulongoti said.
He said cracks could be seen from the undemocratic nature in which President
Banda was leading the party.

Mulongoti said even the people had now witnessed that power was being entrenched
into the hands of people who were not democratically elected.
He said what the MMD desperately needed now after 20 years in power was
re-branding but President Banda had stood in the way of achieving that.

“The signal was there in the manner people were being appointed to NEC, which
was the highest policy-making body of the party, the manner in which provincial
elections, district, constituency elections were being conducted, and more so in
Lusaka just under the nose of the President and the national secretary,”
Mulongoti said.

Mulongoti said while his being fired from Cabinet pleased President Banda’s ego,
it deprived the party of strong leadership.

On President Banda’s justification that credit should go to him because he is
the one who is finishing projects started by late president Levy Mwanawasa,
Mulongoti said president Mwanawasa spent seven years working on his programmes,
while President Banda had only worked for three years.

“Surely he only appears at harvest time. How can you appear close to harvest and
begin to claim that you are the owner of the garden? We are not saying he has
not made a contribution. What we are refusing is that he must take the whole
praise,” Mulongoti said. “You can’t take credit alone in a selfish manner just
because you want to get re-elected. Why is it that in other countries you find
two posters at one place showing pictures of this one and that one? How about
here?”

Mulongoti said President Banda found pleasure basking in president Mwanawasa’s
achievements, while throwing his legacy to the winds.
He said everything about President Banda’s claims on development had to do with
president Mwanawasa’s legacy.

“But he doesn’t want to acknowledge that. He wants to behave as if he is a
self-made man. When you wear the shoes of a dead man you must recognise his
achievements,” Mulongoti said.

On President Banda’s claims that he was removed from government for issuing
statements in favour of the government, although they did not have the blessings
of the leadership, Mulongoti wondered why President Banda could not stop him
from doing so when he served in government.

He said according to his knowledge, he was fired for saying that he was ready to
lose his ministerial job for defending democracy in the MMD.
“Then he (President Banda) is an insincere man. He advanced wrong reasons for
firing me,” Mulongoti said.
He said he did not lay claim to being called honourable as claimed by President
Banda.

“To my name, I have sufficient qualifications to attach to Mulongoti, MBA, I
achieved those in universities. So let those taking away my honourableship
adduce evidence that they could have similar qualifications,” Mulongoti said.
“Don’t show frustrations, the time is coming. Why is it that the majority of his
senior lieutenants are not picking the chorus of MMD? They are all silent. Why?
We want to hear them.”

Addressing journalists at Lusaka International Airport on Sunday, President
Banda said Mulongoti was a frustrated man.
Earlier, Mulongoti had said President Banda was going out because change of
government this year was unstoppable.

Labels: MIKE MULONGOTI, MMD, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 4:26 PM