SECOND Republican president Frederick Chiluba rejected attempts by Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata to take over the presidency in 2001 after realising that the opposition leader’s conduct did not match that of a head of State.

Dr Chiluba, alongside the national executive committee, supported the candidature of late president Levy Mwanawasa when his second five-year tenure of office expired in 2001 which was the reason Mr Sata does not like the former President.

MMD chairperson for information and publicity Dora Siliya said this when she addressed a public rally at Kasakalabwe Middle School in Mpulungu Constituency to drum up support for the October 28, 2010 parliamentary by-election.

The Mpulungu parliamentary by-election follows the death of Lameck Chibombamilimo.

Apart from working as a popularity gauge for the main political parties the contest will be about numerical advantages in the 150-member National Assembly, currently dominated by the ruling party.
Ms Siliya said Mr Sata started showing lust for power when he served under Dr Chiluba but it was clear that Zambia deserved a better candidate to promote national economic development and unity.
She told the residents to reject the candidate the PF would adopt for the by-election and encouraged them to judge Government on the basis of its performance and not the lies being told by Mr Sata against President Rupiah Banda and the Government.
Dr Chiluba, alongside the national executive committee supported the candidature of late president Levy Mwanawasa when his second five-year tenure of office expired in 2001 which was the reason Mr Sata does not like the former president.

Ms Siliya, who is Education minister, said Dr Chiluba was a good president who promoted unity while Mr Sata did not like people from many parts of the country and had continued to demonstrate this by promoting politics of ethnicity.

She warned that the disunity being promoted by the opposition could lead to civil war as the leader continues to divide the nation on tribal lines.

She said the MMD Government would continue to work for the people despite the criticism by the opposition and the allied civil society organisations.

Ms Siliya said the people of Mpulungu had demanded that Mpulungu Harbour should be repossessed and the Government had done just that.
The harbour had the capacity to employ many people and feed the whole district if well managed and that Government would ensure that the people benefit from the investment.

Meanwhile, residents of Mpulungu have demanded that the MMD should adopt prominent Mpulungu business executive Given Mung’omba as the candidate for the ruling party.

Ms Siliya said part of her mission was to involve the residents in selecting the candidate to assess whether the constituency officials had picked the candidate the voters want.

Another applicant for the position is former MP Griever Sikasote who is Northern Province MMD chairperson.
[ Times of Zambia ]

By Elias Munshya wa Munshya

In an earlier article, I had given the so called UPND/PF Pact until November 2010 to survive. After November, I predicted that it was going to disintegrate into stark factions and rancour. November is two months away and all the signs are all here. The Pact has
collapsed. The winner in this break-up is unfortunately, Michael Sata and the loser of course is his counterpart Hakainde Hichilema. In this article, I wish to examine how HH lost the battle for the Pact because of his political naiveté.

Hakainde Hichilema failed to control his message going into the pact. He was undoubtedly motivated by a modest desire to see that the MMD does not retain power in 2011. But that is where the problem lay. HH did not care about the disparate manifestos that his party had with PF. Instead, his actions were characteristically opportunistic. He was ready to compromise his pro-business principles, pro-constitution values and the democratic character of his UPND. He was willing to sacrifice all these ideals at the altar of the PF’s anti-business and dictatorial trends. I do wonder why it never occurred to HH that the PF he wanted to go to bed with had never conducted intra-party elections at any level, from its branches to its Central Committee, in the 9 years of its existence.

Hakainde Hichilema lamentably failed to keep and enforce political discipline within his UPND ranks. As a party under Anderson Mazoka, the UPND was very well rallied around its party president. Mazoka was undoubtedly a respected leader within the UPND. But as HH took over, it was clear that he was no match for Mazoka. HH found it difficult to escape Anderson’s shadows. An incessant comparison between him and Kambela yielded miserable outcomes. When problems started to develop within the UPND/PF Pact, HH tried and failed to articulate to his people to give the pact a chance. It looks like more junior UPND structures had no hope in PF’s sincerity about the Pact. And as such, they just saw no reason why their leader wanted to insist on it.

The greatest show of indiscipline came when the UPND national Youth Chairman Joe Kalusa expressed doubt about the leadership abilities of the UPND and PF leaders in pact. HH had all but failed to whip and rally his troops.

Hakainde Hichilema’s public insistence that he cannot win the 2011 elections if the UPND went it alone shows his political naïveté. Politics is a game of posturing. It never is a game of veracity and actuality. It is a game of cards, opportunity and courage. But HH just recently told his followers not to cheat him into thinking that he can win the 2011 elections singlehandedly. This defeatist mentality is contrary to the spirit of Zambian politics. HH’s insistence that he needs a Pact to dislodge the MMD from power is perhaps one single statement that seals his fate as a political neophyte.

Even leaders of smaller parties in Zambia, without parliamentary presence, never display such defeatism. They go on fighting. Parties such as Heritage Party, or even Reform Party or indeed UNIP do go into elections with a courage and belief that they are in it to win. None of party presidents ever say that they cannot win an election. Michael Sata himself as leader of the PF never says that he cannot win the presidency unaided. In fact, what HH said made him appear politically immature compared to his counterpart. That it is the UPND that needed the Pact more than the PF needed it can be comfortably inferred from HH’s statements. In politics, many would rather vote for a ten-man party whose leader believes that he can win, than vote for a millions’ party whose leader displays spineless attitudes. HH has lost the battle for the Pact because he as evidenced by his recent statements cannot win the 2011 election unless he stood on the Pact’s ticket.

The UPND and Hakainde Hichilema do still have a huge role to play in the political arena in Zambia, however. As a party that is rising in its popularity, HH should not have discouraged his supporters that the UPND cannot triumph. He instead needed to encourage them if they are to continue with their resurgence in Northwestern Province and beyond. As HH is telling us about his inabilities, a new National Movement for Progress (NMP) under Ng’andu Magande is reverberating in Monze and beyond.

Magande does believe that he is the right man for Zambia and is coming to the year 2011 with the audacity to win. If HH continues with his naivety, the people of Southern Province may switch their allegiance from his UPND to NMP or worse still the MMD.

All Ng’andu needs to tell the South, the North, the East and the West is that he has become the heir of their desire to see a developed Zambia. If it is time for a southerner to lead their beloved country, Magande may be the man. At least, unlike one Hakainde Hichilema, he believes it.

The Christian Council of Zambia (CCZ) General Secretary Susan Matale has advised political parties to educate their cadres against engaging in violence.

And Reverend Matale has observed that ferrying party cadres from one place to another creates an enabling environment for political violence.

Rev Matale said peace is an ingredient for development advised party presidents to strongly condemn the violent acts ahead of the forth-coming Chilanga and Mpulungu parliamentary elections set for next month.

Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka on Friday, Rev.Matale said Zambia needs peace and it should not be deliberately spoiled for the sake of an election.

Rev Matale said political leaders should strongly come out in open in condemning violence perpetrated by their members.

She hoped that the parliamentary elections in the two constituencies in Chilanga and Mpulungu would be held in a free and fair environment adding that the violence that rocked Mufumbwe to the run-up parliamentary elections were unfortunate.
[pullquote]
“ There is no reason for hating or causing harm to each other for a sake of campaigns because this country needs peace. It is our sincere hope that the elections in Chilanga and Mpulungu will be conducted in a free and smooth atmosphere,” Rev Matale said.[/pullquote]
“As a Church, we are asking the party presidents to restrain their cadres from engaging themselves in violent acts. Party leaders should come out in open and denounce violence because this country needs peace

“ There is no reason for hating or causing harm to each other for a sake of campaigns because this country needs peace. It is our sincere hope that the elections in Chilanga and Mpulungu will be conducted in a free and smooth atmosphere,” Rev Matale said.

The CCZ-GS advised political leaders to talk about development as opposed to advancing petty issues based on individualism.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia has set October 28, 2010 as the date for holding the parliamentary by-elections for both Chilanga and Mpulungu seats respectively.

The Mpulungu seat fell vacant following the death of area MP Mr Chibombamilimo while the Chilanga seat fell vacant after the expulsion of area MP and former Finance and National Planning Minister Ng’andu Magande from the ruling MMD party for gross indiscipline.

Mr Chibombamilimo who passed away in India after an illness was Deputy Minister of Energy and water Development.

Meanwhile, the Southern African Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD) Executive Director Lee Habasonda has bemoaned the lack of implementation to translate the election materials into Braille to be used for people with disabilities.

Mr Habasonda told ZANIS in an interview that ECZ should consider meeting the demands of disadvantaged people in society.

He urged government through the Ministry of Home Affairs to look into the plight of people with disabilities noting that such people are denied secrecy during election periods because their ‘tools’ for reading and writing is usually not available at Polling Stations.

“It is common knowledge that people with disabilities here in Zambia do not vote because of lack of Braille materials. As SACCORD, our concern is the lack of the Electoral Body to translate the election materials into Braille to benefit the people with disabilities,” Mr Habasonda lamented.

According to Mr Habasonda, people with disabilities use other people to vote during elections which he described that the vote is ‘no longer a secret’ because it has been exposed to the second party.
[pullquote]”It is common knowledge that people with disabilities here in Zambia do not vote because of lack of Braille materials. As SACCORD, our concern is the lack of the Electoral Body to translate the election materials into Braille to benefit the people with disabilities,” Mr. Habasonda lamented.[/pullquote]
He further said some of the people with disabilities do not go to vote because they are frustrated in the first instance.

[ ZANIS ]

The Movement for Multi -Party Democracy (MMD) says it is not scared with its expelled Chilanga Member of Parliament Ngandu Magande forming a political party.

MMD National chairman, Michael Mabenga said the party will not be affected but remain intact.

Mr. Mabenga who welcomed the decision of its former MP forming a political party said he has a democratic right to do so adding that the ruling MMD is unmoved by the development.

He told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today that the party is not concerned adding that it was the party that chucked him out in the first place.

“We welcome the formation of his party it is his democratic right. If we were scared of him impact we would have not chucked him out of the party but the reason that he was expelled shows that we are unmoved.” He said.

Meanwhile Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) Information Officer, McDonald Chipenzi said the proliferation of opposition political party is only adding misery to the opposition.

He said the formation of more opposition political parties are giving an upper advantage to the ruling MMD.

He doubted whether the new party formed by the former Finance Minister will have an impact on the Zambian political scene saying all other parties formed in the past have failed to produce expected results.

Mr. Chipenzi added that the formation of more opposition political parties only shows the desperation of people to go to state house.

“It is sad that Zambian politicians think that going to plot one is the only way to serve the people, but there are many other ways you can serve the people. This development of every person who is disgruntled form a party is retrogressive to our politics” he said.

He has since called on people who want to form political parties to first reflect on whether they will add value to the Zambian democracy.

Former Chilanga MP is reported in the media to have launched campaigns for his presidential bid for 2011 and distributing fliers in Southern Province under his party the National Movement for Progress (NMP).

ZANIS

The united party for national development UPND has denied media reports that the party has resolved to pull out from the UPND/PF PACT.

It has been reported that The United Party For National Development (UPND) has resolved to withdraw from the electoral pact with the Patriotic Front (PF).

It is said that National Executive Committee (NEC) and the National Management Committee (NMC) have rejected the alliance with the PF describing it as not workable because of serious differences which have spilled to the media.

But UPND deputy spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa has described the reports as misleading.

He says that the UPND has not resolved to break away from the pact and that it is sad that certain media houses are fabricating stories.

He however says that the pact is currently standing on sick ground because of certain members who are issuing statements that have potential to undermine the pact.

Mr. Mweetwa says that such a decision to break away from the pact can only be arrived at under a high level meeting.

QFM

This is in response to claims by the acting MMD national secretary, Chembe Nyangu that it is too early for Mr Kavindele to declare interest to contest the MMD vice presidency at the convention given his membership status in the party.

Mr Kavindele said that it wrong for people to question his membership of the ruling MMD.

He said that his decision to declare interest in running for the MMD vice president position is on time.

The Former republican vice president has since said that he is ready to contest the party position whenever the NEC chooses to announce the date for the national convention.

[ QFM ]