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Disengage from dictatorship, Mpombo urges Rupiah

Disengage from dictatorship, Mpombo urges Rupiah
Written by George Chellah and Patson Chilemba
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 7:15:50 PM

FORMER Zambia’s defence minister George Mpombo has said President Rupiah Banda must totally disengage from former ruling party mentality and embrace democracy. And former republican vice-president Enock Kavindele has charged that President Banda is preparing himself for an embarrassing defeat in 2011.

Reacting to President Banda's statement that MMD members agitating for the holding of the national convention should resign from the party and join political parties they think will hold conventions soon, Mpombo described President Banda's remarks as shameful and laughable.

“The mistake the President is making is to assume that the question of the convention is a matter for the National Executive Committee (NEC) to make. It's not the NEC to make the decision, the convention is not a debatable issue. It will be illegal not to call for a convention,” Mpombo said.

“It will be illegal and very harmful because it’s going to destroy the party. Unless the President has some ulterior motives of not going for a convention.”

He said issues of sole candidature belong to the former ruling party (UNIP) Central Committee era.

"Instead of asking people who want the convention to resign he should resign himself. If he is uncomfortable to meet the constitutional requirements of the party he should resign because Mr Banda is in an acting capacity, how is he going to go for the general election because he will not have a full mandate? He can't go in an acting capacity," Mpombo said.

Mpombo reminded President Banda that the MMD did not thrive on threats.

"The President must understand that the constitution of the party is not some malleable clay which he can squeeze with his hands at anytime. This party has been built on democratic principles and not threats. No wonder it’s called the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD)," Mpombo said.

"The constitution should not be changed to serve the desires of Mr Banda. How can he say there is no money when as acting President he has not put up a motion in the NEC to fundraise? How do you visualize failure?"

Mpombo said he finds President Banda's remarks embarrassing.

“I find it shameful that my party should be the one to use such undemocratic tendencies and draconian measures on people with different views. It’s clear that the party is slowly being engulfed in political chaos and almost degenerating into political anarchy," he said.

He urged President Banda to disclose to the nation why he does not want to go for the national convention.

“These are tendencies that went away with UNIP. He doesn't want a convention because he wants to be a sole candidate. State House is busy writing speeches and sending them to provinces and give them to political hoodlums like Andre Mtine to read. Andre can barely count up to ten so what political speech can he write?” Mpombo asked.

“The President must totally disengage from his UNIP mentality and embrace democracy. His personal desire and ambition has been more important than the overall picture of the party. There is nothing that will stop us. We will fight because we will be fighting for the right cause. There is a saying that 'The only thing necessary to the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.'"

He said President Banda must know that repression is the seed of revolution.

“He will not be allowed to suffocate the party. If he does not agree with the principles of the party he must resign as acting President of the party. His comment on the convention is disastrous, that's why I said we are heading for a total political disaster of huge magnitude,” Mpombo said.

“We are sliding in the period of total political chaos. They are saying there is no money but how did we raise money at short notice for the 2008 presidential by-election, which he won? It’s just a political gimmick.”

Mpombo said he was ready for whatever action the party might take on him.

“I am ready...it’s a principle and it’s not negotiable. I am ready to bite the bullet on this one. The progressive forces will face the President head on. This is not debatable. On this one it’s Aluta Continua! The President is fully involved in these manoeuvres to forego the convention. All the political gimmicks are being carried with the full support of Mr Banda," Mpombo said.

"MMD members must not allow 20th century politics. They must not allow strangers to destroy the party. I have had messages from all the provinces. It's shocking in this era of democracy to think in the way some people are thinking today. For me it’s very shameful that those things are coming from my President."

And Kavindele said it was President Banda and those who were breaking the party’s regulations who should resign. Kavindele said many people were pretending to be with President Banda over his stance but did not agree with him.

“What he is going to do is because he is President and he has got presidential powers, many of our people will pretend to be with him. But you know, in the general election, voters include none MMD members. So those none MMD members plus MMD members who would have been disappointed by this development, will form a majority,” Kavindele said.

“He is preparing himself for an embarrassing defeat in 2011. Yes, as simple as that. He found us in the party, why should we resign? So it should be him to resign. He came, he found us already in the party, and some of us worked extremely hard to make the party be where it is. For me I took [late president Levy] Mwanawasa all over the country, introducing him to the electorate.

“And based on that, Mwanawasa was elected, and the circumstances made it possible for this comrade, Mr Banda to become President.”

On President Banda’s assertions that those who were agitating for the convention were being used by MMD enemies to rise against the party, and when the time for disciplining comes, inciters would not be there to defend them, Kavindele said this gimmick had been tried before but had failed to work.

“Certainly in the days when there was no executive interference in the Judiciary, he will not have gotten anywhere. May be now things have changed because now they interfere,” he said.

Kavindele said President Banda should not ask people to resign for teaching him how the MMD should be run.

“I am the last elected vice-president at the convention,” he said.

On the suspension of the entire Western Province MMD executive committee, Kavindele reminded President Banda and his colleagues that each person in leadership had their own support.

“And the leaders that are in Lusaka here would not know what is happening on the ground in the province, because the people in the province are the ones who elected Namakando and his committee. To remove those and impose a set from Lusaka may work against the party’s interests,” he said.

Kavindele said President Banda should be the one to resign instead of asking those who were trying to teach him how the MMD operated.

He said the rules and regulations in the MMD were made at the convention and President Banda was not there.

“So he is taking lightly this issue because he doesn’t understand it,” said Kavindele.

President Banda on Tuesday asked MMD members who were agitating for the holding of the national convention to resign from the party and join political parties they think will hold conventions soon.

Labels: ELECTIONS, ENOCH KAVINDELE, GEORGE MPOMBO, MMD, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 6:15 PM