MMD is in a hurry to bury itself – Imenda

MMD is in a hurry to bury itself – Imenda
Written by Mwala Kalaluka
Sunday, October 11, 2009 4:00:09 AM

LUKULU East United Liberal Party (ULP) member of parliament Batuke Imenda yesterday said the MMD is in a hurry to bury itself due to its dictatorial tendencies.
And the MMD in Lukulu district has rejected the directive by the party’s deputy national secretary Jeff Kande that the district executives in the province should be reporting to the Secretariat instead of the dissolved provincial executive committee.

Commenting on the recent dissolution of the entire Simasiku Namakando-led Western Province MMD executive committee, Imenda said undemocratic parties had an inherent tendency of self-destructing.

“Currently, the MMD is in a hurry like UNIP before it to bury itself,” Imenda said in an interview. “The dissolution of the Western Province MMD provincial executive committee signifies a sad development in Zambia’s political dispensation. Once again the country is witnessing the emergence of dictatorial tendencies, which were synonymous with the first and second Republics, which President Banda was part.”

Imenda said a party that was founded on the backbone of democratic principles must not condone the ‘wamuyaya’ syndrome, which he said was currently showing its ugly head in the ruling party.

“President Banda must take leaf from the disastrous third term attempt by former president Frederick Chiluba,” he cautioned. “President Banda must therefore not impose himself on his party members.”

Imenda said the provisions of the MMD constitution with regards to the election of party president were very clear, as Namakando constantly reminded his superiors in the party.

“It is vividly clear to those that wish to care that prior to the 2008 presidential by-election, the MMD held an election to choose a presidential party candidate,” he said. “The Namakando-led executive supported that healthy democratic process and went ahead to campaign for Mr Banda and produced the best results second only to Eastern Province, where Mr Banda hails from.”

Imenda said the MMD’s undemocratic tendencies would lead to its self-destruction.

“It is equally shameful and unbecoming of a ruling party to sponsor some cadres to go and demonstrate against the British High Commissioner instead of addressing people’s concerns,” said Imenda. “Instead, the government is just dwelling on undemocratic issues to confuse the Zambian people from concentrating on real issues.”

And Lukulu MMD vice chairman, Mukata Mukambwa said the party in the district would continue to report to the dissolved Namakando-led provincial executive because it had done nothing wrong.

Mukambwa said it would be a violation of the party constitution for them to report to the party Secretariat when the party national secretary Katele Kalumba had no powers to dissolve a committee.

District MMD youth chairman Mutoshi Chinyama said even if the National Executive Committee (NEC) calls for the election of a new provincial executive committee, it would not be recognised by the membership.

“We have refused to report to the National Secretariat because we have seen nothing wrong with our provincial executive committee or with their position that we should go to the convention,” he said.

Chinyama said if the NEC wanted, they should dissolve all the party’s executive committees starting with the wards, branches, constituencies and districts.