Maravi

Chingola MMD cadres urge NEC to field Mutati for 2011

Chingola MMD cadres urge NEC to field Mutati for 2011
By Misheck Wangwe
Sun 21 Feb. 2010, 03:54 CAT

SOME MMD cadres in Chingola have urged the party’s national executive committee (NEC) to field commerce minister Felix Mutati as the party’s presidential candidate for 2011 instead of President Rupiah Banda.

The cadres, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, said many party members on the Copperbelt were in support of Mutati because he had demonstrated to be a voice of reason and an intellectual who deserved the presidential seat.

One of the women who spoke on behalf of the group said a lot of MMD cadres in the district were not comfortable with NEC’s decision to field President Banda as a sole candidate for 2011 polls because his performance in the last elections clearly showed that he was not a popular candidate.

“Mutati is exemplary and level-headed. Look at the praises he is getting from people over his outstanding performance in his ministry.

He deserves to run for plot one and not Rupiah Banda who is fighting hard to build former president Frederick Chiluba’s image. People here are suffering because of Chiluba and the Republican President has become his image builder, this is embarrassing,” one of the cadres remarked.

They said Zambians were tired of being cheated and were only interested in credible leaders who could drive the country forward and not politicians who had failed the country over the past years.

The cadres warned that if President Banda was adopted as a sole candidate for 2011, the party risked losing the little confidence the people on the Copperbelt had in it hence the need for senior party officials to think twice and offer support to a credible candidate who would be able to face head on the current competitive political arena.

“It will be wise for us the MMD to adopt a young, vibrant and educative young man like Felix Mutati. You will never find him practising this cheap politics. His main focus is development and that’s the kind of a leader the Zambian people are looking for,” the cadre said.

The MMD has said it will not be automatic that the person to be elected at the MMD convention would be the party’s candidate for the 2011 elections.

Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, CADRES, FELIX MUTATI, MMD, NEC

posted by MrK @ 7:13 AM