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Mulongoti advises MMD not to ignore benefits of incumbency

Mulongoti advises MMD not to ignore benefits of incumbency
Written by Patson Chilemba
Thursday, April 09, 2009 8:46:02 PM

WORKS and supply minister Mike Mulongoti yesterday said MMD will disadvantage itself in 2011 if the party ignores the benefit of incumbency. In an interview, Mulongoti said his interest as MMD chairperson for elections was for the party to remain in government.

He wondered if it would be normal to begin to look for another person to contest the Republican presidency in the party when the incumbent was already there.

"The first thing is to ask whether the incumbent [President Rupiah Banda] is available in 2011. If he is available, then as a party you look at the demerits and merits whether by ignoring him you are going to disadvantage or advantage yourselves. So you can't just wake up and ignore the incumbent. When coming at a decision in last year's election, the first consideration was ‘what is the biggest advantage we have in the incumbency?’” Mulongoti said. "In 2011, we have the benefit of incumbency since we are in government, in incumbency we have made commitments to deliver. Suppose by 2011 we would have made successes, do we disadvantage success? As you realise every day the country knows about your presence [as President]."

On suspended MMD member Terence Findlay's argument that it was wrong for party spokesperson Benny Tetamashimba to suggest that President Banda was the best and only capable candidate the party had, Mulongoti responded: "Are they the ones in office? It's one person at a time."

Mulongoti said what the MMD had was a person who was Republican President.

When reminded that President Banda was on record as having said that he would only lead for three years, Mulongoti said President Banda was elected by the people and those who elected him would determine if they thought he had performed.

"If by 2011 there is a view that we have performed well, would it be a good view that we go around and start looking for another president?" Mulongoti asked. "In Bemba they say akamuti ukwete eko bominako imbwa, meaning the small tree you may have, use it no matter how small it may be rather than look for another one to beat a dog."

Mulongoti said although MMD would hold a national convention to elect the party president, it was no guarantee that the person who would be elected would be presidential candidate.

He said the decision would still fall to the national executive committee (NEC) to adopt the candidate.

Mulongoti said precedence had already been set where former president Frederick Chiluba was president of the party but late president Levy Mwanawasa ended up contesting the Republican presidency.

When reminded that Chiluba was not eligible to stand for a third term, Mulongoti responded: "That decision is not an answer I can give as an individual. Whoever is elected, it will still be up to NEC to decide."

Labels: ELECTIONS, MIKE MULONGOTI, MMD

posted by MrK @ 7:46 PM