The opposition MMD has described party members that have resigned after the party’s election defeat as weak hearted.

MMD deputy national secretary Chembe Nyangu tells QFM that those resigning after the party lost to the ruling PF party are merely proving that they were not committed to the party.

Mr. Nyangu notes that living the party following its loss to the PF is not a solution but that instead members need to sit down and reflect on where the party could have gone wrong.

He adds that the MMD will continue to participate in politics and that it still has chances of bouncing back to power after 2016.

Mr. Nyangu has however congratulated the PF for emerging victorious and has wished all those that are living the MMD the best.

Meanwhile, Monze district commissioner Joyce Nondo Musokotwane is appealing for anyone with a PF membership card to sell it to her.

[pullquote]Monze district commissioner Joyce Nondo Musokotwane is appealing for anyone with a PF membership card to sell it to her.[/pullquote]

Speaking in an interview, a senior messenger in the moffice of the district commissioner said Mrs. Nondo has been looking for a PF card three days of PF’s rule in government.

The officer said the DC is ready to work with the government of the day and is willing to hold PF membership.

“The madam is asking for where she can buy a PF card and she has asked me to find anyone with information”, the officer said.

“You know that these DC’s are cadres who are appointed by politicians not that thery are senior government officials, but yes they are but for me, they are just cadres”, he added.

“Even me i was surprised when i heard this but i cannot blame her because these DC’s do not know their fate after change of government and I don’t think MMD will ever claim the governance of the country.

I think MMD will be the next UNIP and people should never be cheated that these two former ruling parties will ever rule Zambia again,” the officer added.

QFM

The Movement for Multiparty for Democracy (MMD) losing candidate for Mongu Central Constituency Joseph Mulyata has denied media reports that he uprooted a communal tap in the area after losing the elections.

Mr. Mulyata says he dismisses the report with the contempt it deserves by the Post Newspaper that he uprooted a communal tap that was installed using Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

ZANIS reports the losing MMD Parliamentary candidate said this in an interview, in Lusaka, today.

He explained that it is false that he uprooted the communal tap that was installed using CDF because the tap belongs to his lodge.

He furthermore said that it was the Patriotic Front (PF) supporters who broke in the MMD campaign centre and stole the party’s campaign materials worth K 150 million.

Efforts to get the PF Secretary General Winter Kabimba to comment on the matter failed by broadcast time.

However, Mr. Mulyata explained that after breaking into the campaign center, they proceeded to Mulyata lodge and uprooted the tap that they found outside near the lodge about 5 kilometers from Mongu town.

He said the tap was mainly installed for the people that live within the surrounding areas of his lodge so that they would not disturb the supply of water at the lodge.

Mr. Mulyata, who lost to PF’s Nathaniel Mubukwanu, stated that it was very unfair for the reporter to write on a story that he has not verified adding that it is important to verify and have facts.

He has however disclosed that one of the supporters that stole the campaign materials has been apprehended by the police.

Mr. Mulyata said that the supporters should be celebrating their victory instead of stealing their opponents’ campaign materials.

ZANIS

Newly elected Republican President Michael Sata has renamed three International Airports in the country with immediate effect.

President Sata made this announcement at State House this morning when he swore in Francis Chalabesa as principal private secretary.

The President said Lusaka International Airport will now be called Kenneth Kaunda International Airport renamed after Zambia’s first President while Ndola International Airport has been renamed after second Republican vice President late Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe.

President Sata has also renamed Livingstone International Airport after late Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula,a Northern Rhodesian nationalist leader who assisted in the struggle for the independence of the country from the British colonial masters.

He said there is need for Zambians to reconcile with the past adding that the country is what it is today because of men and women who struggled hard for Independence.

And President Sata has expressed confidence that Mr.Chalabesa will perform to his expectations due to his vast experience in the office of principal private secretary.

The President further congratulated Mr. Chalabesa for his appointment and wished him well in his endeavors.

And newly appointed principal private secretary Francis Chalabesa pledged to pay allegiance to the Republican Constitution and work to serve the Zambian people.

Mr. Chalabesa served in the same capacity for a decade under late second Republican President Fredrick Chiluba’s reign.

[QFM]

FORMER Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane has said some MMD members have gone into hiding after former President Rupiah Banda lost power to the President Michael Sata.

Dr Musokotwane appealed to the present government to help bring Zambians together because the campaigns were over and that the Patriotic Front(PF) were now in power. He cited broadcaster Chanda Chimba as one of the members who were not certain about their safety should they come in public.
Dr Musokotwane said several other members were in hiding and that the party was not aware of their where abouts. Dr Musokotwane said President Sata was currently Head of State which the MMD had accepted but there was need to help the members of the former ruling party to live without fear because he is now President for all Zambians.

He said the PF was no longer an opposition party and that Zambians were ready to receive the benefits of having a new government. Dr Musokotwane said the issue of providing a new constitution for the
people had remained topical and Zambians were anxious to have it. He said even the promises for an improved welfare of the people was anxiously being awaited and that the MMD would now work as opposition party.

Meanwhile, asked what had gone wrong in the MMD after several predictions stated that Mr Banda was headed for victory, former parliamentary chief whip Vernon Mwaanga said the national executive
committee was expected to meet this morning to discuss such matters. Mr Mwaanga had predicted that the MMD would win the elections two days before voting started on September 20, 2011.
[Times of Zambia]

By Dr Charles Ngoma:-

First of all, I should like to congratulate the Patriotic Front and President Sata for winning the 2011 Tripartite elections in Zambia after a spirited campaign.

Now that the election is over, it will be nice to look back and see where exactly did it go wrong for the MMD and President Banda? In many democracies in the world, where the economy is booming, inflation is low and interest rates are reasonable, it is unthinkable for the ruling party to lose power. Therefore, I believe that the fact that the MMD lost says a lot about the weaknesses of the Banda administration than the strengths of Mr Sata.

Why do I say so? Well, Mr Sata was rejected by Zambians three times before and yet his message did not change. The economy and many parameters actually became more and more favourable for the ruling party than ever before. In my past article, I did show that we are not where we should be indeed, but we are definitely far much better off than we were in the past.

I am sorry to say, however that the common denominator to President Sata’s loss in 2006 and President Banda’s loss this time round, is the late Dr Frederick Chiluba. President Banda miscalculated on the deep seated feelings that Zambians had concerning the late President.

The turnover of life in Zambia is very quick and as such, young people who were not party to the victors and heroes of yesterday, fill up the electoral registers very quickly. More than a million voters were not born when Dr Chiluba wrested power from Dr Kaunda.

Indeed, to most of them, all they remember about the man is that he presided over the time of great plunder of the nation’s wealth and if they were unemployed, he had something to do with it.

President Banda was made out to have interfered with the Judiciary to free Chiluba and while at that time many would have exculpated him, his more recent remarks during and after the funeral, seemed to justify that understanding.

Mr Banda should not have been openly so close to Dr Chiluba and while he was facing charges. If MMD has to have a post morterm of it’s performance, it must start here. Dr Chiluba was a liability to Mr Sata in 2006, and Mr Sata quickly learnt from that poisonous association and let go. He handed the poisoned chalice to Mr Banda and this led to Mr Banda’s loss.

The whole fight against corruption was shipwrecked at the rock of Chiluba. Time will tell whether Mr Banda interfered with the constitutional office of the Director of Public Prosecution or not.

The second cause for failure was the perception that the MMD were too close to the minning companies that were extracting vast amounts of profits without any benefits to the local people’s. There were very inadequate explanations about how much the mines had invested into the mines in the first place and how much they were making in profits.

Everyone knew that copper prices had risen to record heights, but it was never made clear that it is the result of initial investment and capitalisation that production had doubled since the days of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM). The last minute attempt to get money from the mines to improve inner city roads was too little too late and was very poorly communicated to the people. In fact, the President said one thing, while his Minister of Finance said another.

The third cause of failure was the government’s failure to make good on a very important promise. President Banda promised Parliament in 2009 that the public media would be privatised. The paranoia that kept the public media houses in state hands was an achille’s heel. Over and above this, the public media embarked on a full scale war against the Patriotic Front and Mr Sata. People love to support the underdog, and more when they see one so unfairly treated. Even though Mr Banda denied that he had editorial control of the public media houses, it did not cut the mustard with the people.

The public media must be privatised or made independent of government, otherwise, even if the state has no influence on editorial decisions, as long as the editors are employed by state agencies, there will self censorship in favour of the ruling party.

The fourth cause, is perhaps the nemesis of all African politics. The failure to separate government from the ruling party affairs. I warned about this in the ‘open letter to the President’ shortly after Mr Banda took over. The days of the party and it’s government are over. We cannot accept a situation where a provincial chairman of a political power goes around behaving as though he is state President, harassing and threatening people at will.

There must be a clear distinction between party business and state business. It is a pity that so many politicians had their umbilical cords cut by the UNIP knife in the One Party state labour ward.
Under this subject, I would include family affairs. We understand that even the head of State is a human being who has family, but it is not proper to have the appearance that sons or daughters have a privilege over other citizens by reason of the filial relationship with the President.

It is in these last 3 Presidencies that children have had such prominence in the affairs of the state. People elect ONE person as President and not a fiefdom or a monarchy. If the new government also fails to recognise this distinction, it will not be long before the Zambian voter bids it farewell too!

Lastly but not least, was the open hostility to certain sections of the society who seemed to disagree with the President. Dr Chiluba was a master of charm when he was under attack. Quiet often, he was able to get out of difficulties with the media with a chuckle and oratory. It is ironic that President Banda was seen to be weak aloof and not in control on the one hand, but was also suspected to have a hand in everything!

President Sata is called such nicknames as ‘king cobra’ and ‘man of action’, which endear him to the voters and yet rejecting Mr Banda who appears to be less demanding and dictatorial. Mr Banda would have done himself a great service had he extended an open and genuine welcome to State House from the media houses that seemed to be against him.

It is strange that in 3 years of his Presidency, he never gave a one to one interview like the one he did after he became Vice President. The public want to see ‘THE PERSON’ in his native environment. Mr Banda could have taken advantage of the same institutions that were against him and open up to them, instead of attacking them publicly. Perhaps this was an abject failure on the part of his press office.

It remains of me however to just say one more thing. Mr Banda served the nation to the best of his ability. Called out of retirement and a crown thrust upon his head through death, he did not shirk his responsibility to serve, but took up the challenge and did well. He obviously could not do everything in the half term but ‘adde paruum paruo magnus aceruus erit’ (add a little to a little and there will be a great heap).

Above all this, his legacy to the country will be the strengthening of our fledgling democracy. He was truly magnanimous in defeat and lives have been spared. He put the country first and his own ambitions last. We turn a new chapter. Now, Zambia’s democracy has come of age, and we hope that we will fix the ugly issues that came to the fore during this last election.