Thursday, March 28, 2024

Rupiah won’t be pressured to announce poll date-Nyangu

Share

MMD acting national Scretary Chembe Nyangu stretching
MMD acting national Scretary Chembe Nyangu stretching

MMD deputy national secretary Chembe Nyangu has said President Banda will not be pressured to announce the election date as he would do so at the right time.

Mr Nyangu said in an interview in Lusaka on April 21 that Mr Banda will announce the polling date when the time comes.

“Announcing the election date is the prerogative of the President and no-one should pressure him to make this announcement,” he said.

Mr Nyangu said previous Presidents were not pressured to announce the polling date because this is a privilege of the Head of State which has been in place for a long time.

He said Mr Banda will not announce the election date for the sake of pleasing certain people.

“The MMD and Mr Banda will not make decisions to please a few individuals who do not even appreciate the developments the party has initiated.

These people, especially some Catholic bishops, do not appreciate anything. Even if Mr Banda announces the date today, they will still criticise the decision,” Mr Nyangu said.

He said Zambians should respect Mr Banda’s administration and its decision not to hastily announce the polling date.

And Mr Nyangu said it is sad that Ndola Catholic Bishop Alick Banda has failed to appreciate President Banda’s directive to write off outstanding balances on over 3, 386 housing units on the Copperbelt.

He said Bishop Banda can afford to criticiseMr Banda’s decision because the church accommodates him for free.

“Bishop Banda’s comments are unfounded and unfortunate. We expect people like him to support initiatives intended to promote the welfare of the needy,” Mr Nyangu said.

He said it is unfortunate that Bishop Banda does not want to support Government’s decisions intended to empower poor people.

Mr Nyangu said Bishop Banda’s comment is a clear indication that the clergyman does not care for people, especially the needy

[Zambia Daily Mail]

28 COMMENTS

  1. Thats why we need a new and better constitution that does not give the president such useless powers! Why should the date of the election be the prerogative of one selfish and interested individual? Zambia needs to grow up!
    By the way, continue attacking the Catholics at your own peril. One less vote does not win you an election. Remember what the Catholic church has done for the poor masses in Zambia, even where your presence as GRZ is not felt, the church has been there, serving and saving the lives of poor Zambians. Who doesn’t appreciate here?!

  2. When the right time comes?What nonsense is this!!!We need constitutionaly fixed date.As a country we are not making any progress to boast of!!!Sky rocketing unemployment levels,expanding shanty compounds,gabage,poor service delivery,terrible infrastructure,very limited access to water and sanitation despite being endowed with 35% of the region’s fresh waters,power outages,exponentialy increasing rich-poor gap,no industry to boast of……What a country!!!

    Who shall see us out of this state of hopelessness???

  3. 1 and 2 You are both dwaf, I thought u are aware that currently the Zambian Const gives the president the power to announce the date of ellections. its as simple as that. However, should your desire to have another independent body announce the date be added to the future constitution then the country will be compelled to follow that. For its the president, to be specific, its His Excellency, President R.B Banda, Thank u!!

  4. If PF had not blocked the new constitution we wouldn’t have had this nonsense of the election date being a presidential secret. I hope PF cadres realise this.

  5. Jimmy, I hear u. PF stay away from the process of changing our constitution and later blocked the well intended amendments. Shame on them, keep on crying RB is coming back big time

  6. Just announce the election date. I personally cant wait to vote. MMD you claim to be popular so lets test your popularity.

  7. No.4&5, please do not display your dullness on this fora unless you did not follow the genesis of the constitution making process. PF did not have a hand in the fomulation of the defucnt constitution neither did they play a part in trying to legitimise it.MMD tried to use its governance by having NCC which had an inbuilt majority to try to achieve the party agenda in the new constitution. MMD missed the opportunity to give Zambians a constitution as prescribed in the Mungomba Draft Constitution.

  8. Whether you announce now or not the fact is that you are going with your Rupiah this year.
    Some brats are blaming PF for the failed useless bill, PF has to be thanked for that because the bill was just suiting Red LIps,Rupiah and MMD’s wishes and not the will and aspirations of Zambians as reflected in the Mung’omba draft constitution.
    PEOPLE WILL THANK AND VOTE FOR PF FOR THAT FAILED BILL.

  9. either the date for elections is anounced today or any other day,mmd kuya bebele.we have already decided and the anouncement of the election date will not change that.We know who we will vote for wheather the date is anounced an hour before elections we will vote mmd out and i mean out period.

  10. Well if PF did not block the constitution bill, you would know the election date but since PF blocked it because they love Mr. Sata’s constitution amendment bill of 1996, the election date is a presidential secret.

    PF blocked a good constitution because they love Mr. Sata’s 1996 constitution amendment bill so we are going to the polls based on that.

  11. Weather you announce to day, tommorrow, a month to come etc. kuyabebele people of Zambia have made a decision already, they are just waiting to exercise their rights to cast a vote that will remove RB unceremoniously period.

  12. I Rupiah Bwezani Banda do hereby announce that the local, parliamentary and general elections shall be held on 29 Sept, 2011 as the new govt will have to present the 2012 budget in October and it will have to be passed by the new parliament before 31st December 2011. Now all you lot can start the campaigns in ernest. We in the MMD shall start campaigning after we have bought all the farmers’ produce & distributed all the farming inputs for the next farming season, handed over all the Mobile Clinics, rehabilitated all the roads in towns and commissioned the ones under constructio n & opened more schools & hospitals. Good luck….

  13. # 3, I really don’t think # 1 and 2 are as you characterize them. They are stating a constitutional flaw that your RB (Rubbish) is exploiting to delay proper campaigns and dissolution of a week and useless MMD parliament that is afraid to go to the people and face them appropriately. He is abusing the prerogative afforded to him constitutionally. When is it appropriate for him to announce the date? Two months, two weeks, two days before the election day? In fact we all know when the elections will be held, it is November or earlier, PERIOD. So, for him to waste our time withholding the exact date to benefit him and weigh if people will suddenly like him and change positions is in itself foolish and criminal. In essence, Banda is a political bandit holding the nation at ransom.

  14. How many MPs will defect from MMD after election day announcements? Banda is busy coxing MPs to hang on with MMD that is why he does not want to dissolve parliament. He is afraid MMD will be a shell like UNIP. Watch this blog after Banda announces election days. All MMD cadres will change their blog names to fit in. After all some of them cannot afford the loneliness, the unwanted lives they lead. Most of these MMD cadres on LT are socially segregated due to how they have failed to socialize, hence, the time spent singing for MMD and RB. Ala chikabipa bane.

  15. Where was the president all along not to attend to the people’s concerns.? How could any company survive with such a reckless approach. So president Banda can just wake and decide what he feels and not not looking at the implication of his decision. The Catholic church will not sit idle and see the poor, the oppressed and the needy being manupulated by the selfish govt. This govt is for the few and not for many. Whenever, you go to hospitals,and schools, the faces of the workers and the buildings say it all that we are more than war zone countries. Can you tell someone have a house and no job, proper health, food and those survival needs. The govt must listen, Ruphia- power has gone to his brain to forget that the Catholic played a major role to bring the end to UNIP rule so as MMD

  16. It is amazing how ignorance zambians are really. Full of hot air!! Debate on existing facts not just shooting in aimlessly.
    Facts the existing constitution gives power to sitting president to announce the election date. This he does in consultation with electoral commission of zambia. Period. Whether you like it or or this in black and white! Secondly, the term of office for the sitting president expires on Nov 2 when he was sworn. Naturally he has to finish his mandate, and if you can project your brain he is likely to dissolve parliament 1-3 months of that date. You pipo whining should prepare yourselves towards that date. Secondly, just bcoz they’re elections does not stop government functioning, service delivery should continue. You cant be campaigning/doing politics for 5 years!!…

  17. #1, the problem with you PF cadres is that you do not read. In Britain the election date is the prerogative of the Prime Minister. He can even call what they call a snap election anytime convenient to him alone to catch the opposition unawares. So when you say that “Zambia needs to grow up” it is meaningless noise since as we all know Britain is already grown up and they don’t see a problem with that system. But I sympathise with you guys, it is agony to wait blindly for elections when your opponents are scoring points almost hourly.

  18. That’s how you have been rigging elections you *****S. Just announce the date for elections now. What’s wrong with you, Nyangu and your stupid friends? The problem is that Zambia is being ruled by sick people who are infected with HIV/AIDS,and as long as with sick people holding strategic positions in government, Zambia will go nowhere economically !! Running government business is a demanding task which requires people with very SOUND minds, not sick people, whose thinking is blurred, and cannot come with sensible decisions. We cannot afford to continue having strategic positions of government such Justice Ministry, Vice Presidency, and Chief Whip in the hands of sick people. Zambians wake up! Your lives in the hands of sick, it’s a shame

  19. #2: The dwarf is you! Check my opening line “Thats why we need a new and better constitution..” Since you are a dimwit I will explain to you what I meant. I know what powers the current constitution gives to the president. Therefore, a new and better constitution than the current one is desirable because we can have a constitutionally fixed date to avoid squables and unnecessary prerogatives like that!

  20. Ubulwele, I’m afraid you cannot argue with irrational and blinded followers fir they have two advantages over you. One advantage is that they can shift goal-posts because their arguments are simply emotional and laid on a foundation of who they want in power and not whose policies and vision are better for the country. Secondly, they lack the ability to synthesize information and and use it make an informed opinion thus their inability to see the $+tupidity in all they say. It is really simple, one man having the power to announce an election date as he pleases is terrible, further the idea that formal campaigning should not start till he does defies the reasoning behind democracy. Parties competing for our votes should be to empower us over politicians and to exploit the competition 

  21. betterment of our nation. These people cannot tell you how withholding announcing an election date better serves us yet it is something they are willing to blabber on about if it gives an advantage to their preferred individual even if it does so over true democracy. 

  22. Dont worry people they will announce after completing constracting one major road in Western province, lanching of the mobil hospital in all porvinces and the foot- bridge at kafue bridge. We know these chaps, no back door this tyme.

  23. No one in MMD can object and oppose the President. I think that is where there is collective responsibility. Nyangu says what every one in there can say (Ronnie, Dora, George and others. And if it was not for the boot Mulongoti received, he would have beein the loudest of all) .Even campagn songs on radio are forbiden. Dont pressure him. Give him time. Lagecy has it that way.

Comments are closed.

Read more

Local News

Discover more from Lusaka Times-Zambia's Leading Online News Site - LusakaTimes.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading