THIS STORY WAS PUBLISHED BY THE POST, A PRO-PF REGIME NEWSPAPER. SO READ WITH SCEPTICISM MMD president Nevers Mumba says UPND cannot win elections in 2016. And Mumba says MMDs loss of by-elections does not worry him. Mumba said on Friday in Solwezi that MMD had a more statistical advantage to win the 2016 general elections than UPND. He said he would not sit back and watch UPND destroy MMD structures in North Western Province. I think it will be very complicated for UPND to find the numbers to hit 40 or 42 per cent of the vote that is needed to form government, he said. We will not sit back and watch UPND coming to convert our structures here. This is our stronghold. North Western has always been conservative. It will take 10 years for it to change to another political party. If HH Hakainde Hichilemacomes here and I see that our position is threatened, that time I will even start learning Kaonde, said Mumba as the MMD members cheered him. He said Zambians should not try to vote UPND into power because they would regret experimenting like they were doing with the PF. According to Mumba, UPND could try to do many things to get into power but it would fail because Zambians were fed up with experimenting and wanted to go back to MMD which they knew very well. He said, in an interview after witnessing the installation of MMD Mulonga ward councillor Ezekiel Mulonga as new Solwezi Mayor, that UPND and PF did not give him or the MMD any sleepless nights and was hopeful that in 2016, the party will bounce back to power. UPND doesnt give me any sleepless nights neither does PF. I think my concentration is on strengthening MMD which has its tentacles in all the 10 provinces of this country, he said. Mumba said the UPND did not have adequate numbers to win a general election but that MMD was still popular in most regions of the country citing Northern, Muchinga, Copperbelt and North Western provinces. We think that of the three major political parties, MMD has more statistical chances of forming government than either PF or UPND. And I think that in the PF, you find a similar problem because of under-performance. I think MMD has enough tentacles across the country with a proper campaign that we are putting up to be able to go beyond 42 per cent of the vote, he said, Mumba said statistically, MMD stood as the strongest party of choice for Zambians in 2016 and that the party would go on a country-wide tour to rally support and reaffirm its commitment to the people. He said MMD was not worried that it had lost many of its parliamentary seats to the PF and UPND during by-elections, adding that by-elections could not completely judge how strong the former ruling party was and reiterated that MMD was still strong. Mumba said the differences that he was having with some senior members of the party like vice-presidents Michael Kaingu and Dr Brian Chituwo, were a passing phase that would leave the MMD stronger. He said the MMD would rise in a rebirth where only the cream would lead the party. Mumba said the shake-up would give an opportunity for people to rise up in the party and provide support while also paving the way for others to leave. He said the party was aware that the differences were being instigated by the PF but that he was glad the misunderstandings were happening now in good time ahead of the 2016 general elections which would help the party to reorganise. He said the party was now in a more financially stable situation and the inflow of resources was improving having rid itself of the obstacle of the K400 million owed to the Registrar of Societies that nearly had the former ruling party deregistered And Mumba says the civil society and the Church should protest PFs tendency to perpetuate borrowing, saying the trend was immoral and irresponsible. Mumba claimed the country would have accrued nearly $11 billion in debt by the end of 2014 because the PF was borrowing in a reckless manner. He said in 27 years of UNIP rule, the country only contracted $7 billion which the MMD managed to erase but that the country may be plunged into serious debt again if the PFs trend of borrowing continued. Mumba said, with both foreign and domestic debts rising, Zambians should brace themselves for tougher times with increasing prices of commodities contrary to the PFs promises of better conditions of living. MMD will fight to stop this government from messing with the economy of this country, said Mumba.
Posted on: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 16:56:01 +0000
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