Mutti defends Mtolo on maize shortage
By Fanny Kalonda
SPEAKER of the National Assembly Nelly Mutti says the disaster has been declared because of the drought, and not because there is no sufficient maize in the country.
Responding to a matter of urgent public importance raised by Pambashe PF member of parliament Ronald Chitotela on whether agriculture minister Mtolo Phiri misled the House when he said that Zambia was food secure, Speaker Mutti said the minister was giving information that was available to him at that time.
“He (Minister of Agriculture) misled the nation by saying Zambia is food secure. And we brought it to the attention of you, Madam Speaker, that if nothing is done, the disaster is looming and a lot of Zambians will die. And I salute the President for heeding to the calls of many Zambians and doing the right thing,” Chitotela said. “Madam Speaker, I seek your indulgence if the minister’s moral fiber still remains that he can continue misleading the Zambian people by lying even before this parliament in contravening the constitutional provision that calls for censure of ministers that… misleading the Zambian people including this honourable parliament. Madam Speaker, the provision in the Constitution calls for censure of ministers that deliberately choose to mislead the nation in this House. I seek your indulgence whether the Minister of Agriculture is in order to continue sitting in that chair after misleading this house and members of parliament.”
But Speaker Mutti defended Mtolo.
“I think the whole of this past two weeks we have been talking about hunger and the price of mealie meal, prompting a matter of urgent public importance. And the direction to her honour the Vice-President to issue a ministerial statement which was supposed to be done today but now it will come on Tuesday and also the President declaring a disaster. So let’s wait until Tuesday. If we want any clarification on those points which we can bring questions up to her honour the Vice-President. But with the view for the honourable Minister of Agriculture, I don’t know now if this is a point of order or what, but I don’t believe that he misled according to…,” said Speaker Mutti. “He was giving information according to the information he has before him about the maize because he was saying there is, is it 800 metric tonnes of maize that we have? The fact that the disaster has been declared, is because of the effects of el nino and the drought, that’s why the disaster has been declared and not on the ground that there is no sufficient maize. So let’s put things in context.”- The Mast
Typical of Zambian Opposition Politicans. Chizungu ni cho vuta. Wanting to make a mountain out of a non issue….Chitotela be serious.
Chitotela is an ignorant ex Buju that doesn’t even have a G12 certificate. I personally don’t know how he qualified to stand as an MP; the police should investigate him.
The real problem with these PF lawmakers is that they are uneducated and don’t understand English. Govt says something in English and they hear something else.
Clearly, someone is translating Govt statements from English to Bemba wrongly! You see, people like Chitotela laughing foolishly as if he knows something