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Solwezi is a serious loss for MMD – Katele

Solwezi is a serious loss for MMD – Katele
By Chibaula Silwamba
Sun 22 Nov. 2009, 04:02 CAT

SOLWEZI defeat is a serious loss to us, MMD national secretary Katele Kalumba admitted yesterday.

Commenting on the outcome of Thursday’s Solwezi Central parliamentary by-election in which the MMD lost to the PF-UPND pact, Kalumba attributed the loss to the party “organisational problems” in the campaigns.

“I wish to congratulate them; congratulate the UPND and PF for having won Solwezi. It’s loss to us, a serious loss to us. It was our seat and, therefore, we cannot pretend that it is not a serious loss,” Kalumba said.

“We wish that we could have convinced the people of Solwezi to support us but they have a right, as I have always maintained that voters have a right to decide according to their own conscience.”

However, Kalumba said he did not think PF-UPND pact leaders would believe too much in the Solwezi poll victory to even predict that there is a political revolution and that MMD was finished.

“Politics is a very complicated activity and sometimes we have to accept that even in five minutes in politics can be a very long time. A lot of things can happen in five minutes.

“So I would like to advise our brothers who are understandably quite excited, to be less generous with their assessments. They should not be extravagant with their assessments. This defeat does not suggest the things they are predicting. It simply suggests that we had some organisational problems as far as the campaign was concerned in Solwezi,” Kalumba said.

“I know what they did. I know the PF-UPND strategy they used. It paid them. But I don’t think it may pay them next time around. To lose one battle doesn’t mean you have lost a war.”

Kalumba said the MMD would review its performance in Solwezi and would regain the seat in future.

“As a mature party, we did take the beatings but we will recover from it by careful assessment of the facts on the ground and being able to respond to the concerns of the Zambian people, the people of Solwezi. We are quite confident that once we explained our message correctly that we mean well and we are dedicated to the development of North Western Province, Solwezi district in particular, we are committed to the values that have kept our party going for a long time, they will come round to support the MMD,” Kalumba said.

“So I am not threatened by their statements. I know they are experimenting themselves, they experimenting their pact and so on, but MMD is not at the stage of experimenting. It’s a mature established party which knows that if there are mistakes, there are lessons to be learnt and we are going to correct those mistakes.”

Kalumba said the Solwezi Central defeat was not the end of the MMD.

“As I have said the loss in Solwezi is a wake-up call, it doesn’t mean it’s our demise. It’s simply a wake-up call,” Kalumba said. “In summary, I thank congratulate them for the victory; I understand that they have reasons to get excited but I would advise them that as politicians they don’t become too extravagant with their predictions. Politics is a very difficult game sometimes five minutes can be a very long time, a lot of things can change within five minutes. So to predict the demise of the MMD because of the Solwezi victory would be impolitic.”

Kalumba said MMD wished it could have done better in Solwezi but some opportunities are sometimes missed.

“We have accepted the loss. It’s a loss to us but we have learnt from it. We have learnt something and we are ready to recover,” said Kalumba.

PF-UPND pact candidate Watson Lumba was elected Solwezi Central member of parliament after obtaining 5,669 votes against his closest opponent, MMD’s Albert Chifita who got 4,457 in Thursday’s by-elections.

Lumba replaces the late Benny Tetamashimba, who was an MMD parliamentarian and Minister of Local Government and Housing.

Labels: BY-ELECTIONS, KATELE KALUMBA, MMD, PF-UPND

posted by MrK @ 5:14 AM