FDD will meet its challenges squarely - Chifumu

FDD will meet its challenges squarely - Chifumu
By Patson Chilemba
Friday July 04, 2008 [04:00]

FDD will meet its challenges squarely, party vice-president Chifumu Banda said yesterday. Reacting to information minister Mike Mulongoti's statement that Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) had lost impact on the country's political scene, Banda said although the party seemed to have lost impact, it would one day rise to the occasion and make significant impact on the country.

"There are many political parties that have been in the opposition for a long time. Some have even taken over power after being in the opposition for 30 years. There are some political parties in Zambia who had two members of parliament but after mobilisation and selling their messages, they now have more members of parliament," he said.
Banda said he had no intention of resigning from the FDD.

He said it was not up to Mulongoti to comment on the affairs of his party.

Banda urged Mulongoti to focus on reorganising MMD.
"The responsibility to organise FDD lies with the membership and therefore, the party knows what its challenges are and it will meet its challenges squarely," Banda said. "Democracy will not flourish if there is a mentality that everybody must join the ruling party.

"In fact, Mulongoti himself should ensure that an environment exists for other parties to operate effectively. Access to state resources must be granted to all the political parties."

On Wednesday, Mulongoti urged FDD to re-examine its political relevance to the country.

He said the problems in FDD emanated from the previous conventions where the membership questioned whether the elections were democratic. Mulongoti said the party membership should stand up and question whether the current leadership was guiding the party in a proper manner.