MMD IN A DILEMMA: RUPIAH AND NEVERS FAIL TO AGREE ON WHO SHOULD CONTEST THE POLLS ON MMD NEVERS Mumba and Rupiah Banda yesterday failed to conclusively agree on who should be the MMD candidate in the January 2015 presidential election. But Mumba earlier said the MMD presidency was not for sale, declaring that any backdoor impeachment would not be tolerated. Meanwhile, Rupiah Banda says most members of parliament and national executive committee members want him to contest the Presidency on the MMD ticket. Mumba, the current MMD president, and Banda met yesterday at Lusaka lawyer Makebi Zulu’s offices to discuss which of them should contest the Presidency. The meeting, which started around 14:00 hours, ended after 17:00 hours, and sources said it was “not conclusive”. The source indicated that Banda had made some proposals to Mumba which were yet to be studied before a final meeting today. Those that attended the meeting were Professor Geoffrey Lungwangwa, Faustina Sinyangwe, MMD chairperson Kabinga Pande, Elizabeth Chitika-Molobeka, Muhabi Lungu, Suresh Desai and lawyers Sakwiba Sikota and Zulu. Earlier in the day, Banda had threatened to camp at the MMD secretariat, where he was scheduled to meet Mumba but the latter failed to show up. Later, Banda left after they agreed to hold a meeting at a neutral place. And Banda said from the two meetings held on Sunday, a majority of members of parliament voted for him to stand. “If me and my brother Nevers don’t work together, the party will be divided. We don’t want a divided party during this period that we are supposed to have a presidential by-election. We want to put someone that can win an election and not just any person. [Muhabi] Lungu has asked me to work with Nevers in order to hold the party together,” he said. “That is why I am here [at the secretariat], we agreed to meet at 10:00 hours but my brother [Mumba] has not showed up.” Banda called on all true MMD members to support the decisions of the party. Banda later waited for Mumba at the secretariat for over four hours, but the latter did not show up. Later, Banda left the secretariat to meet Mumba at Lusaka lawyer Makebi Zulu’s law firm in Northmead. When asked about the outcome of their meeting, Mumba and Banda promised to issue a comprehesive statement today. However, Mumba in an interview earlier said to present the same MMD that was rejected in 2011 will be arrogance of the highest level. He said MMD was the most democratic party in the country and that as its president, he would ensure that the rule of law and democracy become the second names of the former ruling party. He said Sunday’s NEC meeting was convened to discuss modalities and whether they would participate in the by-election. Mumba said the NEC resolved that MMD would participate in the presidential by-election. He explained that the party’s legal team informed the meeting that there would be no voting on a candidate because the MMD constitution does not provide for anybody to apply for adoption as a presidential candidate. “It is the sitting president who has the mandate and legitimacy of the convention, meaning [that] all the provinces of the country voted, and they voted, if you remember on the 25th of May 2012. And we had a re-run with the 50 per cent plus 1 vote, one of the very few political parties in the region that has that provision and I won with 70 per cent of the vote,” Mumba said. “That victory means by law that within the five-year mandate of my being in office, I remain the leader of the party and if there be any by-election along the way, there is no provision in the constitution that you go and look for a candidate. So from a legal point of view, we did not go to a vote yesterday (Sunday) because there would have been no provision for voting.” He said he was mandated by NEC to consider either an alliance with another political party or find Banda a role to play within the MMD. “I was, however, mandated to do two things on behalf of the National Executive Committee: to explore further the possibilities of an alliance with another political party, which we are already discussing, and secondly to further explore the possibilities of what role president Banda could play in the scheme of things and I was told that we were going to meet him during the course of the day. That is what really happened in the meeting,” Mumba said. He said there was a lot of animosity during the meeting because some people, against all the warning, ferried cadres to cause commotion. “This is the type of politics I have come to end by being involved in the political process. The MMD that I saw last night is the MMD people hated during the late 1990s and I am not prepared, as president, to take MMD back to an MMD which is lawless, an MMD which does not regard the constitution, an MMD that is exercising hooliganism. That is not the politics that I have come to bring and I am determined, as president, to end that type of politics and that type of MMD,” Mumba said. He said there was no vacancy in the MMD’s presidency until the next convention. “The position of president is directly tied to the presidential candidate, if it happens within the term limit of the president’s mandate. This by-election has come under my watch,” Mumba said. “Obviously, we have opponents that have always looked for an opportunity to get Mumba out but any backdoor impeachment which is not supported by the constitution will not be tolerated. It’s an illegality and it is null and void.” He declared that efforts of those who wish to destabilise MMD would not succeed. “Believers are praying; they have been praying for a jubilee president, they have been praying for the new generation to lead the party forward,” Mumba said. “I commend the words of president Banda when he was leaving office when he said ‘There comes a time when us older leaders must now turn over the power of our great party to the next generation of leaders so they can bring in new ideas’. He said this in his departure speech, he said this in his letter of resignation and we commended him and we continue to commend him.” He urged all MMD members to prepare for the coming campaign. “We will do whatever is necessary to harmonise every position in the party so that everybody is included. However, if there are people who wish to destabilise the party through anarchy or through a coup d’état, there is no success in the democratic MMD when someone chooses the way of a coup d’état and if they want to try, let them try it. I am convinced that the hand of God is going to protect our party,” said Mumba. “To present the same face, the same MMD that was rejected [in] 2011 to the same people who rejected it is arrogance of the highest level. And we cannot go to the election with the same MMD which was rejected. We have to renew it, rebrand it and ensure that the newer generation becomes visible.” But MMD sources have indicated that Mumba is ready to get into an alliance with the UPND to become Hakainde Hichilema’s vice-president. The sources said Mumba’s stance to get into an alliance with UPND was what forced the majority of the MMD’s members of parliament to support Banda because he had promised not to subordinate the party’s interests through an alliance. According to an insider, MMD parliamentary chief whip Mtolo Phiri informed the meeting that 17 of the opposition party’s legislators wanted Banda to contest the election, while only two wanted Mumba. They said MMD members of parliament Levy Ngoma, Victoria Kalima, Allan Mbewe and NEC members Rosemary Banda and Joyce Musenge, are among those that want Banda to stand.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 15:49:14 +0000
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