Maravi

Winning elections on Levy’s back is over, says Kavindele

Winning elections on Levy’s back is over, says Kavindele
By Patson Chilemba
Tue 24 Nov. 2009, 04:01 CAT

FORMER Republican vice-president Enoch Kavindele yesterday said the MMD's defeat in the Solwezi Central by-election shows that the Levy Mwanawasa legacy honeymoon President Rupiah Banda has been using has now faded.

And former defence minister George Mpombo has said the MMD's loss in Solwezi marks the beginning of the end of MMD. Commenting on the MMD's loss in the Solwezi Central parliamentary by-election to the PF and UPND pact, Kavindele said it would now be difficult for President Banda to campaign using the late president Mwanawasa legacy because the people had now become aware of his leadership.

“Well, I think the Levy Mwanawasa honeymoon has now faded. So Mr Rupiah Banda must now find his feet. He can no longer rely on Levy's legacy. The uncle Levy legacy is gone,” he said.

Kavindele said both President Banda and most of the people surrounding him were new in the MMD therefore he was being misadvised in the process.

“So in the process, the MMD will lose, and this is why we are calling for the convention so that we can rid all those who surround him,” Kavindele said. “I gave the MMD leadership some hints on what areas to address, but MMD national chairman Michael Mabenga came out to say we had done our home work and therefore they were going to win.”

Kavindele said the people of North Western Province expected President Banda to address them on former police inspector general Ephraim Mateyo, the firing of Zambia National Tender Board now Zambia Public Procurement Authority former director general David Kapitolo and why the North Western railway company was stopped.

He said many people would have been employed through the North Western railway company, but at the moment many were just being employed as security guards.

Kavindele warned that North Western Province could easily drift to the PF and UPND pact because the people from the area knew the UPND very well.

“In the 2001 elections, only late Patrick Kafumukache and I were the only MMD members of parliament in North Western, the rest were UPND, so people know,” said Kavindele.

And Mpombo said the vote by the Solwezi electorate was a referendum against President Banda, both as Republican and party president, that the leadership qualities he had provided did not meet the minimum standards.

“And that shows that in politics, in national leadership, there is no room for stiff necked or stubbornness, but for humility and rational behaviour because the loss has begun the whole process of the end of MMD. It's a very demoralising blow to all of us in the MMD. It is a loss that has violently shaken party structures and confidence in the whole country,” Mpombo said.

“You know the problem is we have these irresponsible politics taking root in the party, we are not going to the convention. I think our defeat is a rebuff to those overtures not to go for the convention. The party membership has spoken; you can't do unconstitutional things with impunity.”

Mpombo said the people surrounding President Banda had mishandled him, saying they were not advising him properly but were more preoccupied with hero-worshipping him.

“The issue again which has divided the party is a campaign to scandalise president Mwanawasa's legacy. It has divided people into camps, those loyal to Mwanawasa and those loyal to Rupiah Banda,” he said.

Mpombo said the MMD had a suicidal leadership, which could even afford to dissolve the Western Province executive committee for calling for the convention.

“They must understand that the MMD, as a result of this defeat in Solwezi has become a lame-duck government, which will be very vulnerable,” he said.

Mpombo said President Banda's personal image needed rebranding.

On the resolution from the MMD caucus meeting which was held last weekend at Andrews Motel that the party needed re-branding by appointing more national executive committee NEC members because the current ones were not doing enough to defend the President, Mpombo said it was not the MMD that needed rebranding but President Banda.

“No, no, what is required is to brand, rebrand the personal image of President Banda himself. I mean you have a situation where the President has been issuing reckless statements, sometimes embarrassing statements.

Which person of integrity can stand up and defend such utterances? Now you have people at State House, senior aides, calling Mwanawasa a thief. You know, this is not going well to the country,” he said.

Mpombo said the statements by President Banda that he could not appeal former president Frederick Chiluba's acquittal because the lawyers at the dissolved Task Force on Corruption were selfish people who wanted to make money out of politics were aimed at throwing mad on president Mwanawasa.

On the caucus meeting where several MMD leaders made resolutions over the party's affairs, Mpombo said the situation in the MMD was of immense concern and the party was on the verge of political extinction to the level not known in Zambia before.

“Shrewd party organisers should immediately call for a postmortem on the activities of the party. You don't need political consultants to show you graphs about the decline of the party because it is obvious,” Mpombo said. “There has been no party organisation for the past one year. Elections have been abandoned for no reason in the past one year.”

Labels: ENOCH KAVINDELE, GEORGE MPOMBO, MMD, MWANAWASA

posted by MrK @ 5:41 PM