This is the second part of the answers by Dr Nevers Mumba to the questions raised by the public on the MMD Facebook page. Part One dealt with Church matters. This part deals with MMD issues and Policy Matters.
MMD Issues
Why is MMD losing most by-elections?
It is a normal occurrence when a party loses power. It takes at least two years to stabilize, before regaining the confidence of the electorate. All the three major parties (MMD, PF and UPND) have won and lost by-elections the past two years. The infighting which characterized MMD in the first two years also contributed to a perception that the problems would persist and make it difficult for the party to regain confidence. Other reasons vary from regionalism, quality of candidate, rigging and amount of money spent on a particular election. Against this background, it is commendable to see that MMD is still winning some by-elections with the highest of margins (eg Kasenengwa).
Why is MMD and UPND fighting?
Why can’t you work together or form a pact? You are weak alone
MMD is not fighting with UPND. Once in a while, our members get into disputes with each other and such situations have a way of degenerating as each party tries to exercise its perceived strength. Our focus as MMD is to strengthen our party so that it gets positioned to rescue Zambian people from the PF hold. UPND is not in government and is therefore not our pre-occupation.
MMD and UPND are individual and separate political parties. They are established on different principles and espouse different visions for the nation. If however, there develops a major event which threatens the security and integrity of our nation and a number of parties believe that the solution is in forming a pact, I don’t see any reason why political parties should not work together.
Why so much infighting in MMD with some senior members disapproving of your leadership?
It is expected after any party loses power. It happened to UNIP as well. Once we accept the discomfort of being in the opposition, we shall settle down as a party. Whenever there is turbulence in a party, the buck stops at the doorstep of the leader. This is why I have taken responsibility to make sure we stabilize the party. This is a temporary situation we are already addressing and with time, MMD shall become a fully united front but which tolerates disagreements, unlike in other parties. We are the mother of democracy and we can never shy away from a few squabbles here and there.
What is your relationship with the MMD rebels?
What will happen to them? When will they be expelled? Or will you reconcile with them? Are you going to reinstate Kaingu, Chituwo, Siliya, Mulusa, etc. to their NEC positions?
The five former NEC members are still bona fide members of MMD with full rights and responsibilities. Disciplinary action was taken against them by the NEC just like many others who have been disciplined before. As they demonstrate allegiance and respect for party regulations and participate in party programs, they will have an equal opportunity to run for any position in the party when an opportunity arises. We need both the old and new in the party. It is not up to me to unilaterally decide the fate of anyone in the party. We have systems and structures in place to deal with any such eventualities.
Is Dora Siliya going to re-contest Petauke Central?
Miss Dora Siliya being a member of MMD qualifies to stand on the MMD ticket. This will depend on her decision whether to stand or not and will also depend on the Constituency Executive Committee’s decision.
How do you plan to raise funds for General Election Campaigns?
MMD was unable to raise enough funds to campaign competitively in the Mangango by-election.
MMD has spent millions of Kwacha on the many by-elections that have taken place across the country since PF came into government. It is malicious on the part of our opponents to claim that we spent only K11,000 on Mangango. My presidential entourage alone spends more than that on each by-election just on logistics of travel. The victory which awaits MMD in 2016 belongs to the Zambian people and therefore the Zambian people will support our campaign as we face 2016. Zambians now appreciate MMD more than they did when our party was in government. This is partly because of the dismal performance of the PF in government.
Give me three reasons why I should join the MMD.
I shall give you five good reasons why you should join MMD:
- MMD has an established track record. We transformed Zambia from a despotic One-Party state with a GDP Per capita in the bottom five African countries in 1991 into a Lower Middle Income country by 2010 with established institutions of governance, a free press and improved material living conditions for Zambians. The freedoms Zambians are enjoying today are the result of the MMD.
- It is being re-branded and has had a change of leadership and promises New Hope to all Zambians who have been short-changed by the PF. MMD has become much better after losing the 2011 election and learning from our mistakes. We have become renewed for The Hour of New Hope. We are “born again”.
- It is the only institutional party which doesn’t belong to an individual but a movement which belongs to all Zambians.
- It is a national and not regional party which accommodates all tribes, races and regions. It is the only party with a record of having four presidents coming from four different provinces and the transitions have been smooth and democratic.
- We have the best brains of any political party, which is why the ruling party and other opposition parties are constantly attempting to poach our members.
What is in the latest MMD manifesto?
The MMD manifesto remains anchored on the economic policy of free enterprise and a political ethos of freedom for all and the enshrining of democracy in the nation. In a few weeks time, MMD will be announcing the new abbreviated version of the manifesto in a national address. You can read for yourself the current MMD manifesto here:
http://mmdzambia.org/about-mmd/manifesto/
Will you step down if MMD loses in 2016?
We are not planning on losing the 2016 election, so I cannot talk about resigning after an imaginary loss. Moreover, if every party president were to step down after an electoral defeat, Mr Michael Sata would not be president today (he lost three elections).
When is the MMD national convention?
The MMD convention takes place every five years and therefore the next convention will take place in 2016.
Can MMD win again, considering their chequered past?
My job as the new President of MMD is to clean up the image of the party that was tarnished by people who are no longer in our party. Most of them are in PF today. They introduced violence, corruption, elitism, arrogance and many other negatives that contributed to the 2011 election loss. We now have to convince Zambians that we have addressed the perceptions of yesterday and MMD is under a different administration.
Is MMD going to bring back people who left it, or leave them out for fresh blood?
MMD has initiated a massive re-organization and mobilization campaign. Our goal is to encourage every Zambian to find sanctuary in the most democratic party in the nation, the MMD. We have therefore opened doors to all those who left the party for whatever reason and the younger Zambians to join the New Hope MMD.
Why are you not appointing shadow MPs in areas were you have no MPs?
We have announced that the party will open up for applications on November 3rd 2014 to all those who intend to stand on the MMD ticket in 2016.
When are you likely to fill vacant positions in the party to avoid a vacuum?
Filling in vacancies at all levels including at NEC is an ongoing process, now to be undertaken during this re-organization crusade taking place currently.
What is the 2016 MMD strategy? Where do you see MMD in 5 years?
The MMD strategy to win 2016 has already started to be rolled out starting with the fixing of all structures and filling in all vacancies. The overall strategy is being refined by our national campaign team. In five years, the MMD shall be a strong, united party in government.
How can I join MMD?
You can join MMD by either going to one of our offices or to our website (www.mmdzambia.org) where all information is available for your use.
POLICY MATTERS
What is your position on Barotseland?
MMD believes in the policy of a unitary state; ie that Barotseland should continue to be part of Zambia. We however believe that in order to stop the instability in the province, a referendum amongst the people of Barotseland should be called to allow the people in that region to decide which way they wish to go. We shall respect the results of the referendum and will not impose our position.
There has been a lot of media reports that the mines are stealing through tax avoidance and transfer pricing. How would you address this? Wouldn’t it be a good idea to go 51%-49% (Zambian govt / foreign investor) respectively as a way of ensuring we as a country get what we deserve? As long as the economic power of this country is in foreign hands, we might as well forget about reducing poverty or talk about any meaningful development.
It is the responsibility of the Zambian government to ensure that strict laws and regulations are put in place to deter any investor from breaking our laws. It is our duty to enforce our own regulations. The issue of how much percentage government should have in the different mines must be dependent on the most profitable arrangement for Zambia in the long term. In a liberalized economy, common-sense must guide us, not unrealistic wishes.
MMD espouses a Capitalist economic policy in which the private sector is the main player. We have gone down the route of government ownership of companies before and it was a complete disaster economically. It actually made Zambians poorer. We shall continue the MMD policy of engaging the private sector to partner in re-opening some strategic companies where possible.
MMD Media Team
pastor nevers mumba is a dark horse in this?
Thanks
You’ve got to give it to him ,he answers questions very well! Thats a skill!
Too much news today, the website is saturated.
I will repeat this comment.
The post powerful point in the statement above is point 3 of the reasons why one should join the MMD:
“It is the only institutional party which doesn’t belong to an individual but a movement which belongs to all Zambians”.
Now if all political parties can emulate this, Zambia shall claim to be a democratic nation. Until then, lets call it something else.
Drivel. MMD’s only proven track record is in theft and plunder of public funds.
the PF have performed better than the MMD in crookery, cheating and stealing, so the past ruling party can learn alot from the current one as Zambia has never ever under gone the treachery; violence corruption and manupilation under PF;
@Kudos
You must still be high on the Post Newspaper diet. The majority of Zambians are now fully aware that M’membe fed us lies and deceipt only to protect his personal interests. I have no doubt that although there was corruption in the MMD, it would not have been to the extend we were led to believe with screaming headlines and certainly nothing compared to the extend under this PF Govt with the RDA being firmly based at Nkwazi House
Well written article
Does Nevers really belive inside himself that he ll ever be president of the country?
Well Sata believed he would be President even when educated Zambians predicted he would never enter State house but look where his belief landed him! As a man ‘thinketh’ so is he.
Laws of nature. You summon into your life the energies that you spend more time thinking about. If you think positive things about yourself then positive things you shall get. Your mind is part of the universal energy source and tapping into it is only a matter of thought…..
Well, you could be right. but lets wait and see….
No doubt we are the party with the best brains, ya we got rid of Sata and The likes of Shakas to keep the purity. And no one can dispute that.
And in their place you got such geniuses as Bowman Lusambo huh…Nice!
@Laso-Bowman was there in from the Mwanawasa time.I don’t know why he’s an issue now when Nevers is MMD President.
This is good, what we need is dialogue and not men with machetes hacking each other. Unfortunately a size able number of our people would rather be lied to and given sensational promises that is why we are where we are now. The points raised in the article above are true and realistic. The only other problem that Zambia has is that we easily forget. MMD has really transformed the Unip Zambia that we knew. Bumper harvest was only real during the MMD era, the national reserves were only heard during the MMD era. As a people we need to treasure what generally works for the people and not sensationalize our leaders. Surely it is the MMD that embraces all tribes in a relatively balanced maner and we should be proud that we have at least one such a party in Zambia.
Nice article, one of the things MMD need to do, is to worked hard improve on the unpleasant recent history.
If people are governed properly they don’t see any reason to vote another party into power, witness the Botswana Democratic Party, in govt since 1966, sitting pretty, confident in the knowledge they are appreciated for doing the job right. Ba MMD, refusing to learn from UNIP’s blunders carried on where UNIP left off, lording it over the people instead of governing and setting the nation on a trajectory of development. 50 years later the country stats still ranks it among the most poverty stricken on the planet. Shame! But fortunately for them they are bereft of any sense of shame, so it’s isn’t painful for them to see countries emerging from war ashes cruising by to economic prosperity while Zambia is comfortable with this lethargic state of affairs. MMD you are an embarrassment.
@Wantanshi-or is it ‘Wa numa’-In case you don’t know,destroying is easier than making or developing something.UNIP found good money and very strong economy.The rate was ZMK 1 to 1 Pound Sterling.MMD found the Zambian Economy at it’s knees.They improved on it and left Reserves,Low: 1.Inflation rate 2.Exchange rate3.Introduced private Sector driven economy,4.Middle class etc.And now PF has reversed all these achievements-No Reserves,High interest rates,the exchange rate is very high.high meallie meal prices and generally very high cost of living.So Wantanshi,which embarrasment left by MMD are you talking about? Yes there might have been some negatives done by the MMD,but overall,they did quite well. Pliz,learn to be factual.Don’t be a bitter man full of hatred.
@Njeleka
Numbers don’t lie. The country still has the highest %tage of people living on ZMK7.00 per day. For the people to get rid of MMD so unceremoniously and replaced with even more rotten garbage, PF, it says a lot and guarantees Zambia will never get anywhere. Lets accept the fact that MMD squandered an incredible opportunity to showcase their superior academic and professional credentials of their officers by actually transforming Zambia into a better place. I disagree when you assert that MMD left Zambia in a better position. If they did statistics wouldn’t still be placing Zambia at the bottom rung of the ladder where in dwells the likes of Somalia, South Sudan, Malawi and Ethiopia, 50 years down the line.
@Wantanshi-You’re conveniently not seeing the point.I said destroying is easier than to make or develop something.MMD took over when the Economy was really bad.The world Bank and other corporating partners could not even give any loans to Zambia.Now you can even talk of Euro Bond and the misused Reserves left by MMD.Anyway,you’re entitled to your own opinion,only that try to be truthful to yourself.
Dr. Nevers Mumba has spoken well on most issues but has misdirected himself on the Barotseland issue. 1. There is no room for a referendum when it comes to the continued relationship between North-Eastern Rhodesia and Barotseland (North-Western Rhodesia). These two territories with the UK signed an agreement on how they would work together after 1964 (Barotseland Agreement). The agreement contains guidelines on how to resolve issues between the two countries including separation. It states that should we fail to continue working/living together “we revert to the original status”; it does not say “go to referendum” no. The agreement is a legal document if there is misunderstanding or clarification it says, the two countries should go to the high court. The issues is currently in court
@Ngana-Pliz don’t be an incorrigble.The Barotse Agreement was Not Cast In a concret Jacket.Things revolve.Right now the Zambian Constitution has been changing from the one we found at independence.So there’s room to even improve on it if possible.
Ba Nevers, how are your hoes doing in canada. are they well my dear?
Nevers, you are really trying your best but your draw back is having people who pretend to be with you but on the fence only waiting to run for opportunity/positions after you have fought battles with a handful faithfuls. watchout for bystanders and don’t sacrifice your faithfuls at the expense for bystanders who are always negative about your vision. Use your God given wisdom and pray all time. Avoid acrimonious behavior but respect the systems in place. Be calm but vicious in rebranding and gathering membership if you have to achieve your goal. Accept criticism for indeed you will be laughed at, scoffed off and underated but know it God has a final say in everything. Remember Permissive Will and Perfect Will of God. That which belongs to you will always come back to you, that’s…
Analume, guided by the spirit of God.
Put four (4) pictures in front of you: His; RB, Mwanawasa and Chiluba. What does the MMD as a leader for the 2016 context?
NEVERS MUMBA you should accept the reality people don’t want you please call for the convention next year not 2016 you are talking about and prove yourself. I wonder what the problems just to call the extra ordinary convention to fix the Party all these stories you are writing u are wasting your time cadres don’t want you because you are greedy all the money u raise from party donors u eat it alone and your group of people who can not even win you an election. These so called MEDIA TEAM are bunch of pipo who don’t even know any branch official how can you win election with such people? Problem with NEVERS is that you are too arrogant u think you know everything stop cheating yourself
@True Blu-The hired spoiler.There’s nothing like true blue.It’s either you’re a particular colour or you’re a gong’a.The Gong’a leaders you want,where were they during the Convention that took place when Dr Mumba emerged winner.MMD was at it’s lowest in terms of popularity when Dr Mumba took over as President.All your gong’a Leaders were nowhere to be seen.Now they want convention,what nosense.
FELLOW BLOGGERS. I HOPE YOU HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING MY ADVCE TO IGNORE BOOTLICKER AND MMD DIEHARD. ITS ONE PERSON AND WELL KNOWN TO ‘SOME OF US.’ THIS IS ONE OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN AGAINST NEVERS MUMBA BECAUSE HE HAS FLUSHED OUT THE CORRUPT ELEMEN WHICH ARE INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE NEW HOPE VISION HE HAS FOR THE PARTY.
BOOTLICKER THOUGHT BY LEAVING MMD, THE PARTY WOULD DIE BUT THOSE IF SIMILAR MINDS, ARE SHOCKED THAT MMD NOW HAS A SHARP, INTELLIGENT AND PROFESSIONAL MEDIA TRAM WHO ARE QUICKLY HELPING CHANGE THE IMAGE OF THE PARTY. IT IS QUITE TRUE AS FODEP LEADER SAID, THERE IS NO CLEAR PRESIDENTIAL FAVOURITE NOW.
A FEW MONTHS AGO, UPND SEEMED TO BE A CLEAR FAVOURITE, BUT THIS MMD MEDIA TEAM HAS HELPED TURN THE PICTURE AROUND. NEVERS AS SHOWN ON SUNDAY INTERVIEW, IS GREAT.
Can some Blogger candidly say for sure what it could be like having Rev Mumba is State House.
If the monkeys pied on MMD’s RB what do you suggest they could/will do to Rev Mumba?
By the way Mwanawasa and Chiluba were on Plot One longer: Why then is it that we not have any monkey news about State House for those?
Dr Mumba’s answers are wise, well put, thought through and just right for what we’re looking for in a president. I like most of his replies, but the one that sums it up for me is that MMD is the only party that doesn’t belong to an individual, region or tribe but a national institution for all Zambians. Sweet! What more can one ask for? Sober, leadership-quality responses. I would also add, if the whole country was as sane as I see in the contents of this article, it’s a no brainer. There is no contest in 2016-just a thought!
Well done Dr. mumba and the team. This is what we need. Tell the people what about cadrism that has rocked this nation and unemployment. These two are crucial and will be dividing line. Otherwise well done mr. president you have my vote in this coming presido by election 2014.
y