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Mpezeni urges Zambians to give Prof Chirwa a chance

Mpezeni urges Zambians to give Prof Chirwa a chance
By Christopher Miti in Chipata and Lambwe Kachali in Lusaka
Friday December 07, 2007 [05:01]

PARAMOUNT chief Mpezeni of the Ngoni people of Eastern Province, has asked Zambians to give Professor Clive Chirwa a chance to rule the country. And Prof Chirwa described his meeting with Mpezeni on Tuesday as good. In an interview after meeting Professor Chirwa in Chipata, Mpezeni urged Zambians to give him a chance to rule the nation.

“Chirwa seems to be a person who reasons properly because even what he says can tell and he has good education,” Mpezeni said. He said Prof Chirwa was the right person to succeed President Levy Mwanawasa both as Republican and party president. Mpezeni urged Prof Chirwa to continue with his campaign programme.

“I told him to continue his campaign although they will be talking about him, but if a person is grown, he is grown,” Mpezeni, who met Prof Chirwa around 14:00 hours at his Iphendukeni Palace, said.

He said Prof Chirwa promised to go back to Eastern Province to see other chiefs and people. And Prof Chirwa said his meeting with Mpezeni was good although he would not make any further statements.

Meanwhile, former UNIP Chipangali member of parliament Lucas Phiri said the MMD was headed for doom because it had a leadership crisis. Phiri said if the MMD was not careful, it would end after the retirement of President Levy Mwanawasa. He expressed his support for Prof Chirwa saying he was clean and had integrity.

“We need to sell people of Chirwa’s calibre to other provinces, we cannot always be second, we have always been looking forward to people like Dingiswayo Banda and Professor Patrick Mvunga to contest the presidency but they were doing some other things,” Phiri said. “Now we can support people like Prof Chirwa because we need people who can take the province and the country forward, but am not a tribalist. Even if I don’t support MMD and I have no intention of joining MMD, I support Prof Chirwa because he has integrity.”

Recently, Lusaka Province minister Lameck Mangani who is also Eastern Province MMD chairman said Prof Chirwa would be bruised if he dared to contest the MMD presidency. But MMD spokesperson Ben Tetamashimba yesterday said Prof Chirwa had disadvantaged himself by joining the party late.

During the Hot Seat programme on Hot FM, Tetamashimba said MMD had no intentions of barring Prof Chirwa from contesting the party presidency. He said it was sad that most people had been talking against the MMD since Mangani issued a statement against Prof Chirwa.

“But my question is that, where was Prof Chirwa to join MMD now when the party has branches in London? Now that he has seen positive developments in MMD by President Mwanawasa, he thinks it’s time to lead the country. Of course, that is possible but let him hope that our convention is held after September 2010. But if it is held before that time, Prof Chirwa will not be allowed to contest for MMD presidency,” Tetamashimba said.

He said the MMD constitution stated that any member, who had served the party for less than three years, was not eligible to vie for party presidency.

“Since Prof Chirwa joined MMD in September this year, he will attain three years in September 2010. But for other positions such as at council and parliamentary levels, there is no problem because the constitution allows,” he said.

Tetamashimba said Prof Chirwa had disadvantaged himself for not joining the party early enough.

And asked by a caller, Chisulo, who said having people like Katele Kalumba and Michael Mabenga was threatening the integrity of the MMD because they were facing corruption charges, Tetamashimba said there was no article in the MMD constitution that allowed expulsion of people with corruption cases.

Labels: BENNY TETAMASHIMBA, CHIEF MPEZENI, CLIVE CHIRWA, MMD

posted by MrK @ 6:32 PM