FallOut Has Begun, Mutati Is Being Excluded From ‘Ukulya Mwibala’

THE fallout has just begun between the PF and Felix Mutati’s group, MMD vice-president for administration Reverend Reuben Sambo has said.

Commenting on President Edgar Lungu’s demotion of Felix Mutati from finance to Ministry of Works and Supply, Rev Sambo said Mutati, the MMD faction leader, had been excluded from “ukulya mwibala”.

He said the demotion of Mutati to “the less significant Ministry of Works and Supply” was the PF’s way of making it known to former president Rupiah Banda and Mutati that they no longer controlled President Lungu as they always boasted they did.

“This definitely must be hurting to their egos,” Rev Sambo said.

“The demotion of Felix Mutati from the influential Ministry of Finance to the less, insignificant Ministry of Works is very interesting indeed. There is nothing in that ministry worth talking about after the creation of the Ministry of Infrastructure led by [Ronald] Chitotela. Works and Supply is just responsible for buying curtains, furniture for government offices and basically keeping records of government motor vehicles. Mutati’s new portfolio can best be described as minister of inventory. Mutati has been excluded from ‘ukulya mwibala’.”

He said there were many speculations that one could entertain as having led to the fall from grace.

Rev Sambo said one thing for sure was that MMD faction national secretary Raphael Nakacinda’s unrestrained boasting had cost Mutati the place of “respect” with his friends.

He said President Lungu had the option of firing Mutati and revoking his nomination but that it could be that the Head of State wanted Mutati and crew to get the message that they were simply dependants.

“Nakacinda has been rubbishing the role of the PF in the RB/Mutati party and saying things that are inimical to an alliance. Mutati does not have to look any further than Nakacinda to understand his humiliation,” said Rev Sambo. “The next steps to follow will be an investigation into his activities as finance minister.

The investigative wings don’t have far to look either. They just have to review Nakacinda’s motor mouth and they will trace everything. The Mutati party will now have to account for the stockpiling of vehicles and campaign materials. The fallout has just begun.”

He said if the finance portfolio for Mutati was symbolic of the status of the PF-RB-Mutati partnership, then his demotion revealed just how troubled that relationship was at the moment.

“As matter of fact, Nakacinda let the cat out of the bag about the true state of this marriage of convenience when he refused to describe it as healthy by any stretch of imagination during the Sunday Interview. It is logical to conclude that Mutati has been confiding in him about this estranged position,” Rev Sambo noted.

He recalled that when the PF staged demonstrations against Mutati last year, “he revealed that he is a product of the Lungu/RB treaty and he is there because of RB”.

“Three days before Mutati’s demotion, Nakacinda went on the PF television to boast about how well organised they now are and came short of revealing just how much resource they now have, to run on their own as a political party. As this was a pre-recorded programme, it must have been recorded even a week earlier and the PF must have viewed it much earlier, analysed and decided to teach Mutati a lesson,” said Rev Sambo.

Read this article from the original source: FallOut Has Begun, Mutati Is Being Excluded From ‘Ukulya Mwibala’.