Sata doesn’t listen

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 07:28:22 +0000

President Michael Sata is abusing his constitutional powers by issuing executive orders to deal with or clampdown opposition political party leaders and individuals criticizing his government over the abuse of the Public Order Act.

In an interview, Mr. Mulongoti who is former minister of works and supply in the MMD  said that President Sata had abused his powers over the support for police officers abusing the Public Order Act, when previously the courts of law have interpreted the Act with respect to freedom of speech and rights to assembly.

Mr. Mulongoti said that the PF were creating trouble for others by the use of the Public Order Act to shut up or silence everyone because they had failed to fulfill the promises they made prior to the 2011 elections.

“The problem is that Mr. Sata and the PF overrated themselves when they were making all those promises to the electorate. So it has become extremely difficult for them to implement any of the promises. There is too much expectations from t he PF and at the same time pressure from the people who are expecting too much from President Sata and as a result he has resorted to abusing the Act which was a good law,” he said.

Mr. Mulongoti narrated how President Sata called him (Mulongoti) over his condemnation over the continued abuse of the act.

He said that President Sata was a bitter man over his stance on the Public Order Act.

“President Sata called me just before he went to America over the Public Order Act, he said to me, you why are you defending the UPND over the Public Order Act, I said we are in it together and he said no. I know that you have been promised to be vice president of the UPND and I said thank you for the information because president Hakainde has not spoken to me about that.”

Mr. Mulongoti explained that, “Then I said to him that the problem with you Mr. President is that you don’t want to listen to advise, I have been to law school and you have never been to a law school, this public order act on several occasions it has been a thorny issue and it has been dealt with in the courts of law and you have to respect the decision of the court because that is how the rule of law operates. He said no, it is because I want to become vice president of the UPND.”

He said that President Sata’s desire was to run a one party state which all peace loving Zambians should fight against.

Mr. Mulongoti said that allowing President Sata and the PF go down in the manner they were doing, would create problems to the country, adding that it was up to the people of Zambia to remain united and work together in order to stop the abuse of the constitution.

“ I never thought that this day will ever come for me to reveal why I decided to form a political party as an individual. They went for the Egyptian, I was quiet, and then they went for the Jews I was quiet and they came for me there was nobody to speak for me. So there is a reason why we should work together. Let’s not go separate this government is canning.”

And MMD members of parliament have asked former Works and Supply minister Mike Mulongoti to apologise to the people of Zambia over his betrayal and the subsequent support for President Sata and the PF government during last year’s elections.

Chipangali and Sinda Constituencies MPs Vincent Mwale, Levy Ngoma and others blamed Mr. Mulongoti for the current leadership crisis the country was experiencing.

They demanded that Mr. Mulongoti apologizes to the people of Zambia for their support of Mr. Sata during last year’s elections.