The MMD is in serious trouble

The MMD is in serious trouble
By Editor
Sun 22 Nov. 2009, 04:02 CAT

There is need for the MMD to begin by recognising the scale of their problems.
There will also be need for them to recognise and understand the meaning and scale of their defeat in Solwezi.

As MMD national secretary Katele Kalumba has correctly observed, their loss in Solwezi is not a small thing, it is a serious loss. And therefore it’s not wise for them to pretend that it is not a serious loss.

And again as Katele has observed, they will only “recover from it by careful assessment of the facts on the ground and being able to respond to the concerns of the Zambian people”. Indeed, Katele is right when he says: “The loss in Solwezi is a wake-up call, it doesn’t mean our demise. It’s simply a wake-up call.” But what happens if one fails to respond favourably to a wake-up call? He will miss the flight, you are left behind!

The MMD has serious problems in its leadership and organisation. First, the party has become associated increasingly with the most disagreeable messages and thoughts being championed by its leader and presidential candidate Rupiah Banda. And this must be appreciated as a deeply felt distaste, rather than momentary irritation. It cannot be dismissed as mere false perception.

Today, Rupiah and his followers are linked to harshness, lies, hatred, corruption, lack of seriousness in the conduct of public affairs, gallivanting around, laziness, lack of foresight, pettiness and so on and so forth. And they are considered indifferent to the moral arguments over corruption. Today Rupiah is seen as a defender of corruption. And most Zambians believe he procured Frederick Chiluba’s acquittal. Many people are disgusted by what appears to be a desperate and contradictory defence of Chiluba and Rupiah’s decision not to appeal this clearly questionable acquittal. Rupiah is thought to favour corruption and greed.

Blaming other people for Rupiah’s weaknesses won’t do. There appears to be serious hypocrisy in the MMD. Rupiah’s problems and poor performance are being blamed on other people, on the people around him, on young Dickson Jere, and today on Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika. They are not attempting in any open way to put the blame on Rupiah himself.

Mealy-mouthed shedding of responsibility and blaming it all on Dickson and others around Rupiah is, at best, hypocrisy and, at worst, a form of dishonesty. If anyone is to blame for the problems that the MMD is facing today, it is Rupiah. There is need for the MMD to get its facts on these issues straight. We say this because if they will keep on pretending that Rupiah is okay, the problem is with the people around him, they will not see a reversal of political fortunes, they will find themselves in the opposition come 2011.

The problems that the MMD is facing today are as a result of failure of leadership on Rupiah’s part. It cannot be denied by any honest person that Rupiah has no vision for the MMD and the country; Rupiah is simply on a jolly ride. And this is why he is probably on the move all the time. And when he is around, his time is spent on drinking and roasting meat with family members and friends. The man is simply at sea; he easily got a job that he cannot do. It will be interesting for anyone to take stock of what Rupiah does for MMD as its president. It will equally be interesting to audit his work as president of the Republic and find out if really he earns his salary by giving the Zambian taxpayers’ a worthy service for the money they pay him.

Blaming a young man like Dickson for Rupiah’s problems is nonsense. It is not Dickson who hired Rupiah. It is Rupiah who hired Dickson. And therefore, it is not Dickson who is responsible for Rupiah’s performance, it is Rupiah who is responsible for Dickson’s performance. Rupiah doesn’t report to Dickson. This young man is simply a hired servant of Rupiah who he can dismiss at any time. And those blaming Dickson for Rupiah’s problems are simply cowards who can’t go and tell Rupiah that his performance is very poor, and if he continues at this rate, the Zambian people will kick him and the MMD out of power in 2011.

The truth is that all these problems the MMD is facing today are as a result of Rupiah’s ineptitude, laziness, shortsightedness – in short, his lack of capacity. Well, they can disagree with us and call us all sorts of names because they depend on Rupiah for jobs, contracts. But the truth will remain that unless Rupiah’s performance improves, they should brace themselves for very difficult days or even start packing as 2011 nears.

It’s very clear that Rupiah has failed to be a unifying factor in the MMD. Those who were supporting Rupiah last year claimed that they did so in the belief that he would be a unifying factor. But it’s clear for all to see that Rupiah has actually proved to be a divisive factor. There is nothing one can honestly credit Rupiah with today. There are no virtues that can be extolled about Rupiah. Look at the poor decision, judgment on Chiluba! A prudent leader would have not taken such a position as Rupiah has done. The Chiluba factor is going to cost Rupiah and the MMD a lot. And many people in MMD know this but lack the courage, integrity and honesty to say this is wrong. Instead, they have watched Rupiah pile one lie on top of another every day on this score.

The internal dissent that is growing within the MMD will not stop. And those who are wise should be able to learn from history, from what happened to Chiluba in 2001 when he was deserted by his own ministers, including his own vice-president. Chiluba was abandoned by the people he thought were loyal to him over the third term when they realised that public opinion had shifted against him. And these are the same people who went on the following year to vote for the removal of his immunity. Rupiah may have presidential immunity but he is definitely not immune from being abandoned in the way Chiluba was abandoned in 2001. This internal dissent within the MMD will not go away by simply wishing it to disappear. Leadership is needed to help remove the cause of dissension within the ruling party. But Rupiah is not a leader and has no capacity to bring harmony in the MMD. Firstly, Rupiah doesn’t understand the MMD that well to be able to provide it with the necessary efficient and effective leadership. It’s not possible to lead a group of people, a political party you don’t understand.

And as long as this intra-party strife continues, the MMD will continue to lose public support and appeal. As we have stated before, experience has shown repeatedly that a political party divided into hostile groups loses its militancy, its public appeal. Protracted inner-party strife inevitably results in party members’ concentration on discords. The party becomes distracted from political struggle, competition and day-to-day work among the masses and loses its influence.

This may be a temporal phenomena but it can as well become a permanent disability if the MMD does not, in an honest way, address its problems, its crisis of leadership. Rupiah has no capacity to lead the MMD; he got the job so easily but that does not make him competent to perform the job. In the end, Rupiah’s poor performance will boomerang on him and the MMD. And as long as they continue to blame Rupiah’s minions for his problems and shield him from blame, they will not be able to solve their problems before 2011 and go into that election strong. Pinning their hopes on the PF-UPND pact disintegrating or on the general weaknesses of the opposition may not be the cure for their virus. The weaknesses of the opposition, which are many, are not necessarily the strength of the MMD.

Rupiah and the MMD may today look strong and confident because of their control of the state and government machinery, but serious problems lie ahead. They don’t know where they are headed and this is very dangerous. Rupiah’s great achievement since his election last year has been to record the highest number of foreign trips by any president of this country in such a short time; is directionless leadership.

No amount of apportioning blame among Rupiah’s assistants and others will rescue his government and the MMD if his poor leadership is not addressed. The problem is not Dickson, Aka or even Katele. It is Rupiah himself. Rupiah is the greatest liability to the MMD today.