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Mulongoti is sulking - Kabimba

Mulongoti is sulking - Kabimba
By Kombe Chimpinde
Fri 05 Oct. 2012, 14:50 CAT

WYNTER Kabimba says Mike Mulongoti will have to wait for 50 years before he can become president of Zambia.

Commenting on Mulongoti's intentions to form a political party and stand in 2016, Kabimba who is PF secretary general and justice minister said Mulongoti's plans of forming a party were a case of sour grapes.

"Fifty years is the minimum because PF is here to stay. It will not be dislodged (in 2016) by a political party that has not yet been registered. Kulibe!" he said.

Kabimba observed that Mulongoti had been vacillating, like one who was jumping up and down to look for where the big cake was since the coming in of the PF.

"We campaigned together under PF and I remember him saying to me 'for me this is not about getting a job. We have a cause to get rid of the MMD'. But also it was very clear to me that he was very bitter about being hounded out of the MMD," he recounted.

"It turns out now that he has been looking for recognition and because he has not been rendered that recognition, he is sulking."

Kabimba said the party however believed that Mulongoti's support for the PF was on a matter of principle and thereby interacting with him in good faith.

"Now I saw him vacillating between going back to MMD or continuing rendering support to PF after elections. He's been walking that tightrope until today when I read this article that now he wants to become president," he said.

"Now I have problems with people that think the only role they can play in the service of the Zambian people is to become president because I believe it is the people that must say that 'we think you are fit to lead us'."

And Kabimba accused Mulongoti of projecting the argument that PF had not done much and according to the expectations of many, simply to gain political mileage.

He wondered what Mulongoti had to show for his long service in both government and MMD.

"He has nothing to show. You cannot make a judgement when you yourself have a record that shows nothing," he said.

Kabimba dismissed claims by Mulongoti that he was Levy Mwanawasa and Rupiah Banda's king maker, saying that the opposite was true.

"Mwanawasa nominated Mulongoti when he came in power because he was from the Lambaland and probably suffering. It was the same with Rupiah. He nominated Mulongoti. So who supported who?" he asked.

He said PF was instead cleaning the mess left by the MMD, a party Mulongoti served in.

He said he appreciated the fact that Mulongoti would have been useful to MMD, but he said it was unfortunate that he was not part of the team that President Michael Sata had picked to work with, a decision that was the President's prerogative.

"When these people were in MMD, we did not go to him and seek recognition, even when there were better people in the MMD," he said.
He said being in a political party should not be perceived as a debt to its leader, as was his case.

"I think it is high time Zambians started making correct judgements about some of the leaders in this country. My advice to him is there is no need to sulk," said Kabimba.

Labels: MIKE MULONGOTI, MMD, PF, WYNTER KABIMBA

posted by MrK @ 3:09 PM