Members of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy have said that they have appealed to the Court of Appeal and applied for a STAY because of the contradictions that characterised the November 5th Ruling that installed Nevers Mumba as party president of the former ruling party.
And the members of the former ruling party have expressed sadness at the happenings in the once might party as a result of greedy individuals whom they said want to use the party for personal benefits.
Speaking during a media breakfast engagement at Melsim Lodge in Lusaka Friday, Chishala Chilufya who spoke on behalf of the members said the judge contradicted herself by saying that Dr Mumba engaged in a number of illegalities when he presided as leader of the party while in the same breath reinstated him as president even when he himself had argued that his term was ending in 2017.
He said the members are going to the higher court because not only do they want justice for their party but to ensure that the party Constitution is respected as their party is governed by the said document.
“I am very happy that the party membership conducted themselves very mature on that particular day because if it was in other countries or other political parties which are not matured it could have created a very big chaos there.
“When you look on the judgement and I am inviting the Zambian people to look at the judgement, go on page 137 read through what the judge said, it was very clear that what Nevers Mumba was doing was totally illegal,” he said.
“We are appealing because we just want justice. We want our party Constitution to be respected.
“We have also made a very interesting observation, everytime we submit our papers before courts pastor Nevers Mumba comes out confident as if he already has the ruling. He says what we are doing is just a formality or an academic exercise, even when we were in the High Court he was busy boasting in churches everywhere that I know what will come out from the court.
And Chishala said founder members of the party were saddened with the happenings in the party.
He said the people who formed the party sacrificed a lot including braving the lethal UNIP leadership hence their discomfort with the continued wrangles in the party.
“We have people who are founder members who participated in forming the MMD, they are still alive, we have Akashabatwa, Teddy Mulonga, Mbita Chitala, Edith Nawakwi, to mention a few. Those people went to Garden House to come up with something that would help the Zambian people.
“It’s a very sad moment in the history of our political party today. It sad that a few individuals want to personalize the party. Individuals who were not even there when MMD was formed, they don’t even understand the party’s ideology yet they are trying to claim ownership of the party. People like Nevers Mumba were busy preaching the gospel but today he wants to start fighting for MMD and trying to kill all the ideologies.
“Some of the founder members are so saddened with the happenings in the party and I know at one time they will speak about the issues in the MMD because some of the people who sacrificed to form MMD are still living and it was not easy to challenge the one party participatory democracy,” he said.
Democracy also dictates that at some point you come together and plot the way forward. The two factions can initiate dialogue and go to the convention in the near future and elect a president that can compete in the next general elections. If not, you shall just remain in the doldrums like other party you mentioned that once ruled Zambia. The money you are going to spend on court processes, can be used to refine your own constitution to fix what went wrong so that next time, you are wiser. Note the actual ruling and take note of the major reasons, not the details there of. Zambians would like to have good strong political parties to challenge the ruling party so that no one party is dominant that allows it to make wrong decisions along party lines. We must rule by consensus
It would be wiser to move than to continue on this path whose outcome is not known. The resources being used in this litigation process can be used to chart a new way forward.
Typical Zambian politician. Having an opinion on all issues even without requisite qualification. The judge cannot contradict himself! The facts are that this Mutati faction called for a convention and invited delegates without following the guidelines as outlined in the party Constitution. This was the basis of the petition by the Nevers Mumba faction. Comrade Chishala needs to seek legal interpretation of the ruling and save himself and his faction time and money.
Like people have said above (NOT N.E.Z), initiate dialogue between the warring parties and use the resources to hold the convention and elect leaders who will salvage this once mighty party!
RB KILLED THE MMD AND NEVERS WILL BURY IT AS HE HAS NO CREDIBILITY APART FROM AN INFLATED EGO.
MMD RIP AND JOIN HANDS WITH PF AND FIGHT THE SCOURGE OF TRIBALISTIC UPND
Appealing the ruling is an excercise that is futile. If you want seek a court order to compel your party leadership to hold a convention just because nervous using his nec moved the year for the convention doesn’t mean he can not be compelled to hold one. Two wrongs don’t make a right Felix shouldn’t have held a convention.