Some Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) Members of Parliament have rebutted a Zambia Daily Mail story of yesterday that quoted party President Nevers Mumba as having admitted that 30 of his MPs were planning to defect to the ruling Patriotic Front (PF).
Speaking at a press briefing at the MMD secretariat in Lusaka today, MMD Solwezi Central Member of parliamentary Lucky Mulusa claimed Dr. Mumba was misquoted saying the 30 MPs will not cross over to the PF.
He said the former ruling party has since written a letter to the management of the Zambia Daily Mail to retract the story.
Mr. Mulusa said the party’s MPs are not so irresponsible as to defeat the aims of democracy and disappoint the people to whom they campaigned and convinced to send them to parliament on the MMD ticket by resigning from the party to join the PF.
He claimed that there was something peculiar about the MPs who have so far resigned from the MMD to join the PF saying most of them were facing criminal charges in the courts of law and that their crossing to the ruling party was a desperate effort to have their criminal cases dropped.
Mr. Mulusa said the resignation of such MPs was therefore an assault and a mockery on the country’s justice system.
He further stated that the excuses that the MMD was dictatorial and that they would not remain in a troubled party does not hold water alleging that there were more dictatorial tendencies and problems in the PF.
Mr. Mulusa said MMD MPs will ensure the party survives by making sure that there was order and unquestioned support to a democratically elected party leadership and also to a democratically instituted National Executive Committee (NEC).
He alleged that the appointment of MMD MPs as Deputy Ministers in Government was just a ploy by the PF to destroy democracy in the country.
Mr. Mulusa said PF only wants to increase their numbers in parliament and that was why they were appointing opposition MMD MPs in Government, saying there were many qualified and competitive PF MPs in parliament who should serve in Government as ministers.
Meanwhile, Mr. Mulusa said the party membership and the nation at large are tired of the recent squabbles that have rocked the party.
Asked to state whether the party was also going to expel party Vice President Brian Chituwo for seeming to support expelled National Secretary Richard Kachingwe, Mr. Mulusa said the party would deal with that issue internally.
And the Solwezi Parliamentarian has dismissed claims that camps have emerged in the former ruling party, saying there were absolutely no divisions in the party.
And Sinda MP Levy Ngoma stated that should the leadership of the party decide to bring back expelled Secretary General Richard Kachingwe, the MPs would halt their contribution to the party.
Mr. Ngoma said the MPs cannot continue funding a Secretary General who was inimical to the interest and principles of the party.
Speaking at the same occasion, MMD Chitambo MP Mushili Malama said the MMD MPs were strongly behind the leadership of the party President Dr. Mumba and also stands by the expulsion of Major Kachingwe as National Secretary of the party.
Mr. Malama said the expulsion of Maj. Kachingwe was sanctioned by MPs who petitioned his expulsion following his utterances which clearly showed that he was no longer serving the interests of the party.
Five MMD MPs who claimed to represent the 30 members alleged to be planning to defect to the PF attended the briefing and these included Mr. Mulusa, Mr. Ngoma, Mr. Malama, Christopher Malila of Lukulu East and Anne Chungu of Lufwanyama constituency.
ZANIS
Whoops! Mulungu azaweluza.
just unite and fight the evil forces of PF and Micheal chilufya sata. remain united and steadfast. we know you will not bounce back to power but at the moment your existence is vital for democracy
#2 Bwalya chiselema – As long as you have the Devil’s advocate as MMD president we shall continue to leave MMD. Infact UPND has more respect than this party lead by Lucifer
My hope waits on HH. Pf kabwato is sinking with its mentally retarded captain Ukwa.
HOW THE MMD (CHILUBA MWANAWASA AND BANDA) STOLE OUR MONEY AND GAVE IT TO FOREIGN CROOKS
Johannesburg – Almost $9bn was illicitly siphoned out of Zambia, Africa’s top copper producer over the last decade, according to a report by a US anti-graft watchdog, which highlights how resource wealth is often squandered in the developing world.
The amount is almost half the size of Zambia’s current gross domestic product and much of the money would have been channeled to offshore banks and tax havens, draining one of the world’s poorest countries of badly needed capital.
I am happy to say that both Lucky and Levy were my students in the School of Business, Copperbelt University in the 1990s, although Levy dropped out in his 3rd year, I think. Show them that you are different from these old recycled politicians. Viva youths.
CONTD
The Zambian government said the report was in line with its own findings and vowed to crack down on culprits.
The report by US-based anti-graft watchdog Global Financial Integrity (GFI) said the southern African nation lost $8.8bn to capital flight between 2001 and 2010.
“Of that, $4.9bn can be attributed to trade misinvoicing, which is a type of trade fraud used by commercial importers and exporters around the world,” GFI economist Sarah Freitas said.
The way this typically works is that an importer pretends to pay more to foreigners than they actually spend, with the difference put discreetly into banks or other assets abroad.
Major commodity producers seem especially susceptible to these trends because of the often opaque nature of resources industries.
Ba Fi*$p@!
MMD MP’S SHOULD NOT CROSS TO THE PF. SATA WILL NOT ADAPT U IN 2016 MARK MY WORDS. HE IS JUST USING U NOW.
WE NEED DEMOCRACY AND IT CAN ONLY FLOURISH IN A STATE OF VIBRANCY.
today we are all condemning defectors yet yesterday so many people were supporting Nevers plans to expel around 10 MP’s
One of the biggest mistakes people make when buying blood pressure monitors is buying the wrong instrument. That’s why a lot of people get frustrated and annoyed in just a matter of weeks of use.