He said it was not true that the party had invited former president Rupiah Banda to reconcile the MMD. Mr. Sambo said the party was going through a reconciliation processes.
On the suspension and expulsion of certain members by the party, Rev. Sambo said it was not right for the party National Secretary Mwansa Mbulakulima to publicly give his personal feelings in the manner he had done since he was bound by collective responsibility.
He said the expulsion of Lunte MMD member of parliament Felix Mutati and the suspension of party spokesperson Raphael Nakacinda was done by the party National Executive Committee (NEC) and not Dr. Mumba on his own. He said the MMD was premised on the deals of dialogue and that morality and integrity was the main call of the former party.
Rev. Sambo said if those who were axed are no longer fighting the party, they can be readmitted.
“The beneficiary of this process is Mr. Mutati himself. There are no sins that are not unforgivable in the MMD,” He said.
On the convention, Rev Sambo the MMD NEC took a position after debating the matter for over two hours, where the motion to go for a convention was defeated. He said MMD members had the right to ask for a convention, adding that the constitution states that the convention should be held every five years.
He explained that however, the MMD in practice has never held a convention every 5 years because NEC decides on the exact date based on circumstances. Rev. Sambo said there was no fear in Dr. Nevers Mumba to go for a convention and nobody could defeat him.
And Rev. Sambo described the MMD Eastern Province chairman’s call for a convention as deception. He said even if the MMD in the province wanted a convention, the province had only a vote. Calls for the convention are out of order and the MMD leadership would soon sit down with Mr Jacob Mwanza to discuss the way forward.
“Dr. Mumba’s tenure comes to an end in 2017 in May. And we are not keeping the people who were elected at the 2011 convention illegally. We are still in that mandate and nobody is sitting there illegally,” he said.
On the alliance, Rev. Sambo said President Edgar Lungu’s desire of wanting to work with the MMD still stands and it was up to him to make his final decision on whether the party was strong or not.
He said the MMD was a strong party after the 2015 presidential election, adding that the former ruling party was not a push over. He said the MMD was a decider in this election and would sit on the table to discuss the alliance on the equal basis.
pulizi
Oh yeah? Nevers Mumba said the in-fighting in the MMD is a sign that the party is strong. Now this new fella says there are no squabbles in the party? Is he blind? Does he read newspapers? Doesn’t in-fighting and squabbles give the same meaning? Your party is dead and will be out of our vocabulary come August 2016.
just reconsile & come for an alliance becoz we want to work with united MMD
African way of approaching issue….we have always denied that there are problems in Zimbabwe, Somalia etc
Another Reverend in denial! See what one SMS can do to desperate individuals!
..only death can convince politicians and make them talk no more and in the end make them look like 1diots…..on LPM, Mulongoti told us he was fit and jogging….on MCS it was worse, even the one he was sharing the bed with….where there is no physical death like MMDEAD squabbles, no one can convince Sambo..