EDITH Nawakwi shall remain the president of the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) for as long she wants because it is only the national convention that has the mandate to remove her from the presidency, party spokesperson Antonio Mwanza has said.
Mr Mwanza said Ms Nawakwi had remained the FDD leader since her election in 2005 because the party had never held a convention to elect new office bearers and that those calling for her to step down were misguided.
He said the FDD would be going for its second convention before the 2016 general elections at which the general membership would decide whether to retain Ms Nawakwi as the party president or remove her.
Mr Mwanza said although the FDD constitution had limited the presidency to two terms only, Ms Nawakwi had been elected once and that she was still eligible to contest her position because she had been elected by the convention once.
There is a simmering revolt against Ms Nawakwi in the FDD and some officials in the party have charged that the FDD leader was illegally holding the position of president because she had already served her two terms.
The officials are also saying that according to the party constitution, a party president who contests the republican presidency and loses that election automatically becomes ineligible to continue leading the party.
But Mr Mwanza said those who were pushing for the removal of Ms Nawakwi should know that if the FDD was not going to have a convention, Ms Nawakwi would remain the party president (forever).
“Ms Nawakwi was elected FDD president in 2005 and we have had no convention since that time. According to the FDD constitution, it is only the convention that can remove Ms Nawakwi from her position and if you do not have the convention, there is no other organ of the party that can remove her. So until we go for a convention before the 2016 general elections, Ms Nawakwi remains the leader of the FDD and those calling for her removal are misguided. You cannot remove the president without a convention and that is how democratic we are in the FDD unlike other political parties,” Mr Mwanza said.
He explained that at the next convention, all the positions including that of the presidency would be open to eligible members to challenge Ms Nawakwi.
Mr Mwanza said in between the national convention, there was a national policy committee that had the powers to appoint leaders who would only have to be ratified by the national convention.
He said the national policy committee had the mandate to make any changes but that such would only have to be approved by the national convention.
Yesterday, FDD Copperbelt provincial coordinator N’shingebuka Shyamenda told the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) that Ms Nawakwi should not continue to head the party because her mandate had expired.
Mr Shyamenda said Ms Nawakwi was holding on to the position of FDD president illegally and at variance with the party’s constitution under article 13 (2) and gave Ms Nawakwi a forteen days ultimatum to vacate her office.
on to elect new office bearers and that those calling for her to step down were misguided.
He said the FDD would be going for its second convention before the 2016 general elections at which the general membership would decide whether to retain Ms Nawakwi as the party president or remove her.
Mr Mwanza said although the FDD constitution had limited the its presidency to two terms only, Ms Nawakwi had been elected once and that she was still eligible to contest her position because she had been elected by the convention once.
There is a simmering revolt against Ms Nawakwi in the FDD and some officials in the party have charged that the FDD leader was illegally holding the position of president because she had already served her two terms.
The officials are also saying that according to the party constitution, a party president who contests the republican presidency and loses that election twice automatically becomes ineligible to continue leading the party.
But Mr Mwanza said those who were pushing for the removal of Ms Nawakwi should know that if the FDD was not going to have a convention, Ms Nawakwi would remain the party president (forever). Yesterday, FDD Copperbelt Provincial coordinator N’shingebuka Shyamenda told the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) that Ms Nawakwi should not continue to head the party because her mandate had expired.
Mr Shyamenda said Ms Nawakwi was holding on to the position of FDD president illegally and at variance with the party’s constitution under article 13 (2) and gave Ms Nawakwi a forteen days ultimatum to vacate her office.
Lets go to conversion then, and Nawakwi can challenge if she wants. Yes some of these Political parties looks like a personal to holder.
Antonio, why waste time and money to hold a convention to go and pretend that you had democratic elections to elect your president? Why not just declare that Nawakwi is the life president of the FDD? Why the pretense? Who are you are you trying to fool?
You guys at FDD why are you allowing yourselves to be distracted. There are serious issues that require the attention of all serious minded Zambians and that Shamenda fellow should not be allowed to take your eyes off the ball.
We have seen this before. Such detractors have destroyed MMD, they tried it on UPND after 20/01/15 and after the the British elections (imagine after the British elections). So Antonio the more you keep on answering Shamenda the more you give credence to his rantings. You must have quieter ways of dealing with such issues.
So, is Antonio implying that one term in FDD is 10 years?
Nawakwi, is this the reason you have been attacking innocent people in PF because you are a thief in your own field? Shame upon you shameless woman. Respect your own rules first before you start pretending as if poking your nose in other people’s affairs.
Nawakwi like Hichilema have not answered the important questions about their involvement in the distruction on the Zambian economy.
HH stole and killed the industry in Zambia, Nawakwi was just a tourist in Government for years. She has nothing to show despite having held 4 top Government positions in MMD.
They are jealous of President Lungu’s achievement in 8 months. President Lungu is developing Zambia and transforming it despite the GLOBAL CHALLENGES that have affected many countries including Zambia.
Sorry Nawakwi, giveup the run, at her age she is not married something is wrong with her.if she has failed to stay with one person a husband can zambians trust her. Answer is no, do other things.
Convention will be held after 2016 loss to PF then you can have one for now if we get to number 3 again and get a few MPs into Parley we will have achieved much….But as you can see this is a person seeking the highest office of the land. She knows she in in total breach of the Party Constitution but is not allowing a convention to take place. What more if she ever became number 1? She would break the rules with impunity after all charity begins at home they say. Even late Miko went for a last minute convention which KK attended…she might say she has no money to hold a convention but if she is that popular raising the 1000,000 needed to hold a convention shouldn’t be an issue