THE MMD in Eastern Province has unearthed a scheme in which Chipata Central member of Parliament and deputy minister for Works and Supply Lameck Mangani’s wife, Mary, has allegedly been promising a man challenging the current Chief Chikuwe, that the Patriotic Front (PF) will give him the throne if he campaigns for its president, Michael Sata to take power.
Mrs Mangani has allegedly been working with a member of the Eastern Province MMD executive committee to lure people in the chiefdom into defecting to the PF, using the dispute surrounding the chieftaincy.
However, the two women’s mission is reported to have flopped after their major target, Mr Maron Mbewe, who has contested the Chikuwe chieftaincy in court, rejected their overture and informed MMD leaders about their attempt to lure him and other people to the PF.
And MMD Eastern Province chairperson Kennedy Zulu says the revelation has answered questions the party raised when Mr Mangani held a private meeting with former Minister of Lands Judith Kapijimpanga just a few days after the latter defected from the MMD to the PF.
It is alleged that MrsMangani has been working with MMD Eastern Province vice chairlady Deborah Kamanga in her campaigns for Mr Sata and that on April 14, the two were on a campaign trail in Chief Chikuwe’s area, trying to capitalise on the succession wrangle in the chiefdom to garner support for the PF leader.
Former MMD Chipata district secretary Samuel Phiri said on April 20 that Mrs Mangani and Ms Kamanga informed people in the chiefdom, located in Chipata’s Kasenengwa Constituency, that President Banda is not interested in resolving the succession wrangle or helping Mr Mbewe to become Chief Chikuwe.
Mr Phiri said the pair then told the people to vote for Mr Sata, whom they claimed will resolve the succession dispute, and that President Banda has done nothing in the last two years he has been in power.
“I challenge the two to prove their innocence on the matter because the evidence against them is overwhelming.
People in the chiefdom are upset with the behaviour of these two unreliable women and I urge the party leadership in the province to flash out such people because they are misleading people and tarnishing our party’s image in the province,” Mr Phiri said.
He said Mrs Mangani and Ms Kamanga’s conduct is unpatriotic and tantamount to being in bad standing with the party.
“They are bad seeds who can easily contaminate innocent MMD members. As MMD in Eastern Province, we will not tolerate the behaviour of the two. They don’t mean well for President Banda and the party, and I challenge them to show where their loyalty lies because they seem to be anti-MMD,” he said.
And former Kasenengwamember of Parliament Timothy Nyirenda confirmed that he was present when Mr Mbewe’s envoys reported the activities of the two women to the MMD leaders.
“Yes, it is true that the report was made and I was present when men from Mr MaronMbewe made the report,” Mr Nyirenda said.
When reached for comment, MrsMangani denied campaigning for Mr Sata.
[pullquote]“I am not a politician, and I am not interested in campaigning for PF or MMD. We need to go round so that we can check on how these clubs are running, it’s not that we are campaigning,” Mrs Mangani said.[/pullquote]
She said her involvement in the running of women’s clubs since 2007 has forced her to go round the province and that some people mistook her frequent trips for campaign trails.
“I am not a politician, and I am not interested in campaigning for PF or MMD. We need to go round so that we can check on how these clubs are running, it’s not that we are campaigning,” Mrs Mangani said.
And Ms Kamanga said she is not aware of the matter.
And MMD Eastern Province chairperson Kennedy Zulu said the revelation has shed some light on Mr Mangani’s meeting with Mrs Kapijimpanga.
Mr Zulu said the MMD provincial leadership will soon meet and chart the way forward because Mrs Mangani may not be working alone.
He said the leaders will also summon Mr Mangani, who is also Deputy Minister of Works and Supply, because it is not possible that his wife can be involved in such activities without the husband’s knowledge.
Mr Zulu said the party leadership is also aware that Mr Mangani has allegedly been wooing his supporters in Chipata Central Constituency to follow him when he defects from the MMD.
He said it is sad that Mr Mangani can be seen to be fighting the MMD and President Banda.
“The fact that he lost an election at the MMD national convention doesn’t mean that is the end of the road. He should just concentrate on his constituency and continue serving as deputy minister.
These allegations are serious. We have verified them and found that they are true,” he said.
But Mr Mangani wondered how his wife could ask people to campaign for PF when her husband is a serving minister in the MMD Government.
He said it was not possible for Mrs Mangani to campaign in Chikuwe, which is in Chipangali Constituency, when he (Mr Mangani) is member of Parliament for Chipata Central.
“I really doubt that story. What I know is that she has been busy meeting women’s clubs. They got some money from the CEEC (Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission) and she told me she was going to check how far the clubs have gone with the balances on the loans,” he said.
Mr Mangani said nobody had told him anything about his wife trying to lure anyone to vote for Mr Sata, and promised to find out if it is true.
“I have spoken to my wife and she looked surprised. She told me the story seems to be a fabrication,” he said.
He said Mrs Mangani oversees 92 women’s clubs as patron while Ms Kamanga is the chairlady of the Chipata Central Women in Development Association.
“My wife was in Eastern Province for only a week, and has been accompanied by Ms Kamanga only once,” he said.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
its democracy at its peak,the husband deputy minister in mmd government and the wife pf.its encouraging,lets support this as it enhences our democracy.
Lunacy at LT. Mangani Phiri you have mentioned in your title is our late friend from ZNBC. What does his wife got to do with politics? The title mentions someone else and the story goes another direction. Always with mistakes. Why do you guys manufacture stories?
LT please make an effort to edit your stories before publishing them. It is unacceptable to start a story with errors in the title! Look at your spelling of Mangani.
Anyway, thanks but back to the story: I think Mangani’s wife has mentioned that she is not interested in campaigning for MMD or PF, that should be enough.
Nothing wrong with this strategic arrangement. A typical example is in the USA where Democratic Party strategist James Carville’s wife Mary Matalin is a prominent Republican party member. This has to be encouraged, but look at how politics of poverty works by the response from rupiah’s appointee Kennedy zulu
I hope this story is not fabricated. There have been strong remours that RB wants to his “good boy” to contest the Chipata Central seat. But here is my warning: if you replace Mangani Phiri, he will will back the seat on any party ticket or even as an Independent candidate. This is because the Chipata people have seen for themselves what Mangani has done in Chipata.
If this story is fabricated by MMD as we will soon discover, then I say shame on MMD and I can never vote for them again and I will influence many people to do the same.
VIVA Mangani
She has a right to choose which ever party she wants to belong to
so what if I’m MMD and my wife is PF?!!!
Mangani you have been victimized for a long time. Get your gratuity after the dissolution of Government and parliament and decide your way forward don’t kubeba!
VIVA MANGANI. ALL MAY COUSINS IN CHIPATA CENTRAL ARE HAPPY WITH YOUR ACTIVITIES AND WILL SUPPORT YOU WHEREVER YOU GO- BE IT PF,MMD,UPND,INDEPENDENT, OR EVEN PUDD. YOU ARE THE ONLY MP IN EASTERN PROVINCE WHO IS ASUURED OF RETAINING A SEAT
IYI NI DONCHI KUBEBA
This goes to confirm rumours that Hufner Banda want to get rid of Mangani so that his son contests the Chipata Central seat.
I thought chieftainancy has roots and succession can be traced through those roots.Why is the MMD linking Mrs Managni’s activities to Lameck. These are two different creatures with thier own political aspirations. If she campaigs for PF does the converse say Lameck is also campaigning for PF? Wake up you party cadres. Have you set atrap for Lameck?
PF in the end up just to be like MMD because it appears that any discontented chap in MMD is welcome into their party regardless of his/her principles. This is desperation at its worst! Even George Kunda if he today starts talking ill against HERB will be called a hero by the PF clan members. To them everything is reduced to slogans, it is Donchi Kubeba! Pabwato. This Mangani fellow is part of the Mufumbwe fiasco. What has changed for him to be a hero in your eyes imwe ba PF????? Power for the sake of power is not the solution! How will the likes of Mangani implement your manifesto if he was to become your member? I rest my case!!!
Zambian Politics. If you are MMD then your wife should. Hell No! Dr Nkandu Luo ws MMD while the ex husband was UPND. There is nothing unearthed here. Dull chaps in MMD
If this true then my take is this. Of course there is nothing wrong with a wife belonging to a different political party as that of her husband. She has the right. But she should come out in the open and say “Yes I have been campaigning for PF because am PF”. No one will castigate her for that. The mare fact that she is refusing while she is doing it tells you there is something she is hiding. MMD are not stupid. They know that Mangani stands a better chance to win Lusaka central. Like RB said, they will let him stand and sort him out next year after we are assured of the victory. Look gentlmen MMD are not saints and maybe Mangani is popular and the peoplem love him in Chipata central b ut I like people with morals. If he feels RB doesn’t want him let him resign, join a party of his…
Ba LT even the Word S-T-U-P-I-D is concerned. Be serious.
This is a bit petty. Why rash to tabloids with allegations instead of investigating them properly and/or catching them in the act with a voice/video recorder. Even a mobile phone can vidoe record. Come on lets not be reduced to classroom politics.
The allegiance of Mrs Mangani to the husband is just on marital affairs not political. Let her campaign for a party of her own choice. Why does MMD display such kind of insecurity.
It’s not Mangani alone, disolve parliament and see mass defections. People are just waiting for their gratuity.Even in Rupiah’s cabinet and MMD nec, we have our people who give us information which later go to The Post. MMD can fire Mangani but he is not the only one.
NI DONT KUBEBA IN 2011.Eat MMD’s money,get the gifts BUT in the booth NI pabwato,simple.
VIVA SATA COME WHAT MAY.
Politics is very a very funny game.To digress a bit,why is it that professionals are discarding their lucrative jobs and join politics?What is so special about politics?Is it really a service to the people or it is one way of earning a living?We will end up with a country that does not treasure careers as God given assets.Doctors and other professionals should value their calling.
Mrs Mangani should not be stalked and force to below to a party whose values have dwindled.MMD is fast becoming like a valueless coin.It is becoming a coin which cannot even buy a box of matches.A vote for MMD is a waste of time.People should not be forced to belong to a party under duress.People should be at liberty to belong to a party of their choice.
MMD, WATCH OUT MAGANI IS POPULAR AND LOVED IN EP, HANDLE THIS MATTER WITH CARE OR ELSE……………………..YOU GIVE YOUR ENAMY AN UPPER HAND…..FREE ADVICE TO MMD
why is this even in the news, these are private matters, ime sure voting s a secret ballot, one zambia one nation … ievryone has a free will they can do what they please, given they are abiding by the law… if madam wants to be PF let her be, and the gentleman thats saying PF are like MMD … dont be stupid, pf have different morrals, we dont just appoint any i-d-i-o-t … if someone wants to contest and pf are confident he will win then why not, just becuz he was mmd before doesnt make him less of a candidate. see this is what zambian politics have sinked to … its all about picking and stealing just to get power … we are losing the democratic vieww
mk the don, what morals are you talking about if you say if PF should pick him if they feel he can win. It is not just about winning, he may win bacause of the party he is standing on and yet be just another dimwit. That is the problem with dander heads like you, all you know are insults. Why tell someone ‘dont be ******,’ just beacuse he doesn’t agree with your views? It is PF who are losing the democratic view!!!!
@Voz.
politics is all about numbers as rb likes sayin. If mangani can cause a gain of thousands of votes for whichever party he were to chose to join then that party would be foolish to turn him down as mmd would be foolish to let him go. Churchill and roosevelt were not jumping with glee about the prospect of working with stalin but war like politics makes strange bedfellows. And as such pf and upnd for that matter would hav to get him on board despite perceived past misdeeds.
And with the exception of the “no hope In hell of winning the election” parties, I think every other opposition party has got mmd remnants of sort in their midst.
Ali mwana wa afrika, I get your point my brother. My concern is that we always end up with the same failed leaders ruling us under different parties. Should we then keep on practising such type of politics?
Mrs Mangani is a human being with all democratic rights to choose the party to support without any intimidation or aligning it to what the husband holds in any organisation or political party. I dont think that is news to tell people!!
I believe people who are in MMD now waiting to defect after getting their gratuities will not be wealth voting for to run the affairs of the country again. It’s not logical if one has failed in the present government to be allowed and be accepted in the opposition, then be drafted again in the new government. If you talk about change it should be about people not PARTIES with the same people. So, welcoming MMD defectors to opposition and voting them into power is as well voting back the MMD.
I am UPND. My wife is MMD. My children are PF. Dont put eggs in one basket
Announce the Election date and dissolve parliament we see who is who or who is popular!!!!!!!!!
Mrs Mangani is a free person born in a free country and there is nothing that is stopping her from either being in MMD or PF. Kennedy Zulu and his rotten leadsrhip in MMD EAST are F.O.O.L..S!!!
You MMD stooges don’t infringe on Mrs Mangani’s liberty as per your new culture. Mary Go Go. Don’t kubeba. MMD why can’t you just advise yo RB to set elections date and continue explaining yo invisible developmental projects? Look FIFA World Cup 2014, 2018 & 2022 dates are known, ask the Catholics Easter date in 2012….2030 is known, even the Americans will be voting in 2014 November,what so special about rigged Zambia’s election date? We are in plural politics and Mrs Mangani just like any other individual has every right to make a her own choice according to her conscience. Fools
what is wrong with that , we can join and belong to any political party ,not ma politics sebana wikute
MMD fools yo RB has never been subjected to a competitive election to assume that party presidency. It started by single sourcing RP at Zamtel, rebranded preferred candidate thru out provincial conferences, then preferred candidate in Kabwe!!!! 2011 no preferred candidate in national elections, we are game.
SHE IS A FREE ZAMBIAN TO DO ANYTHING SHE LIKES.THAT’S WHAT DEMOCRACY CAN DO.THE FACT THAT THE HUSBAND IS MMD DOES NOT LEGALLY BIND HER TO THE MMD,THIS REMINDS ME OF A CERTAIN COUNCILOR WHO WENT WITH ALL HIS RELATIVES,FAMILY AND FRIENDS ON THE ELECTION DAY ON WHICH HE WAS A CANDIDATE THINKING HE WILL WIN WITH A LANDSLIDE.TO HIS SURPRISE HE GOT VOTES FEWER THAN THE PEOPLE HE WENT WITH…A SITUATION HE LEARN’T THAT,EVEN THOSE YOU STAY WITH MAY NOT AGREE WITH ALL YOUR ENDEAVORS.
Mangani before the cock crows you shall deny you association with PF three times. we are counting as this is the second denial. remember the Kapiji meeting you had and then this one. we are just waiting for the third denial where you will now be caught with SATA himself. just declare you intentions and people will respect your decision. you can not be eating with both hands i we na chimutu monga chimuzezulu mambala iwe.
While the wife is free to campaign for any party different from the husband’s, i find this response from the wife/mangani interesting:
“I have spoken to my wife and she looked surprised. She told me the story seems to be a fabrication,” he said
who cares if she does..what is PF…she will lose out ..
its fine
there is no pressure
@Voz. I know what you mean. Frustrating like heck! But we can only make an omelet with the eggs we have. And we need change for changes sake. Trotsky said that decadence always seeps into the ruling class. And that is so much what has happened with the mmd regardless of the high ideals it was founded on. But I really do feel your frustration. Its mine too. But mmd just a bigger frustration right now.
#20 iwe uli ko dull ai? What the f@#$ are you saying? We can’t make head nor tail of your rantings.
This sounds like a “field day” for PF bloggers. On a serious note, the coincidence that Mangani held private meetings with Mrs.Kabijimpanga, and now that his own wife is campaigning for Sata’s PF makes interesting reading. It appears that MMD, PF and UPND are all infested with coakroaches. We wonder whether Doom or Boam will work as the effective pesticide. As for Chipata-Central constituency, members of each party will ultimately decide as to who will represent them during the General Election. In our Mpika area we are wary of Sata the Tanzanian Mwakyusa whom we liken to as “ci-mwikalampungu” on mutobo in Bisa land.
It is sad that LT only reports, borrows or dreams stories that are mostly against the PF or it’s memebers. Can you come out in the open and say what you stand for……….
Sur tht is a long choice mrs mangani if this wht mangani tells u,what do u see in SATA himself ar dreamng tht sata wil be de president?if yes where ed how?now b informed tht yo sata this year b4 December,he wil b in mpika wth a lot of credits nt to state house ed I thnk old woman u ar also nt educated lik sata bcoz de pipo who join ar lik him now for us here in eastern de party tht makes sance is UPND ed MMD kwasila pf niyako u cn tolk to thos chieftens of yos bt votes does nt belong to yo pf bt to either UPND or MMD.
U ar for that mwachusa person,u cnt see that ni wire yamuntu nyiwe.mwachusa from Tanzania wow u about to cry very very soon tak it or not I cnt vote for PF ine votng for that wire sata nOooooooooo pliz
Ine ni viva HH ni pakubokooooooooooooooooooo
Ine Pakubokooooooooooooooooooooo viva real change HH here we cm fo only
Don’t prejudice for the sake of it. The Nyakyusa people in Tanzanian politics have done more for their country than you hypocritical representatives of the Zambian people. Be true to yourselves and then maybe you will get to know the truth. peace!
@cc malama and mzaza.
Please save us the xenophobia.there is so much you can legitimately throw at sata. How the hell is chilufya a nyakyusa name?
And even if his ancestors came from wat is modern day tanzania. If anything it validates his aspirations as all our past presidents had “foreign” ties. Kk malawi ftj congo rb zimbabwe. Even heard a crazy story that mwanawasa’s dad came from the east,malawi maybe.was called mwanawase and it changed to mwanawasa when he settled in lamba land.
“Ali Mwana wa Afrika”: To answer your genuinely framed question “How the hell is chilufya a nyakyusa name?”. Truth is that Sata’s parents were immigrants from Mbeya who settled in Mpika while many Makyusas proceeded to settle in Zimbabwe’s Hwange Coal-mine town. Parents of KK’s wife Betty (Kundas) also moved from Mfuwe to stay in Mpika and knew Sata’s father well. As a genuine Bisa we do not have such names as Sata. The name Chilufya was given to Sata in the same way such names as John, Peter, Solomon are given to children by Chistians. Chitulika is a location behind a Petro Station near Kasama Rd junction in Mpika. In Kitwe we have areas called Musonda and Mulenga equivalent to the so-called Chiltulika in Mpika Municipality area. This is the truth about Sata the migrant
Curiously, Sata has been in the fore-front labelling political opponents as foreigners. Prominent victims of Sata’s propaganda included KK, Mwanawasa, William Banda,& Sylvia Masebo. Sata’s govt system enganged the late Lawyer Mushota and a living Tonga lawyer to articulate legal arguments in support of their twisted belief and attempt to deport KK to Malawi. They succeeded to deport William Banda to Malawi. Yet Sata conveniently concealed his and Chiluba’s country of origin through their parents. These are facts many of my young colleagues do not seem to know. This is the main reason Sata and The Post hate history in order to manipulate the minds of young readers. The historians at UNZA have a challenge to write authentic historical facts for an informed future generation.