Maravi

Differences in PF, UPND Pact deepen

Differences in PF, UPND Pact deepen
By Kombe Chimpinde, Chansa Kabwela and George Chellah
Thu 23 Sep. 2010, 04:00 CAT

GARY Nkombo has challenged the Patriotic Front (PF) to state their position on the pact following party secretary general Wynter Kabimba’s pronouncement over the forthcoming Chilanga and Mpulungu by-elections.

But PF leader Michael Sata has said his party will not be intimidated and advised UPND against hunting for faults to break the pact. And Kabimba has observed that it is clear the UPND proposed to enter into a pact with the PF in absolute bad faith.

In an interview with Radio Phoenix yesterday, Nkombo, who is Mazabuka Central UPND member of parliament, advised Sata to counsel Kabimba who he labeled an enemy of the pact.

“I would like to respond to the comments attributed to the secretary general of the PF Mr Wynter Kabimba to the effect that the working group for which I belong did not sit over the Mpulungu and Chilanga constituency seats,” Nkombo said.

“I find it extremely annoying and also astonishing for Mr Kabimba to say that the working group did not sit when he knows that Jean Kapata, Gerry Chanda and Silvia Chalikosa sat with us UPND on Monday to discuss Mpulungu as well as Chilanga and five elections at which meeting in no uncertain terms agreed that Chilanga was going to be contested by UPND… I think that by his own revelation he has expressed himself to be an enemy of the Zambians who have continued advocating for the pact.”

Nkombo accused Kabimba of misconduct and challenged him to state whether or not he was interested in the pact.

“Those who are in the pact are tired of what Mr Kabimba has continued to say. I now call upon the PF leader to counsel Mr Kabimba.

It is unfortunate that this is coming from a senior person like him. He is talking like he is representing the views of the MMD,” he said.
Nkombo wondered where Kabimba drew his strength to continue displacing the spirit of the pact.

“He should learn to tame his mouth. Is there no other human being in the PF? It appears that he is uncontrollable in there PF. He needs to know that we are trying to be methodical, I have got in my hands the minutes of the meeting. I was the secretary at that meeting.

It’s not good for members to start doing things according to their wishes. We must learn to be participatory and not just taking a unitary stance,” said Nkombo. “It is really insulting for Mr Kabimba to do things according to the wishes of his mind.”
But Sata defended Kabimba’s position on the issues raised by Nkombo.

“Wynter is secretary general for the PF he is not secretary general for the pact, he is not secretary general for UPND and Wynter Kabimba represents the views of the party in absence of a the Central Committee,” Sata said. “What I am saying is the question of what our brothers and sisters are saying, the Central Committee decides on what to do. The point is first of all, where did we meet?

The Central Committee makes the decision not a small committee... small committees are advisory and can only present a report to the central committee. So if some small committee met they have not reported to the Central Committee. The Central Committee sits and decides but the Central Committee has not sat to decide on anything.

“It’s only the Central Committee, which has the final say. Where did we sit and decide that the pact had agreed to field a UPND candidate in Chilanga? The Central Committee makes a decision not a small committee.

The small committees are advisory and can only make a report to Central Committee.”
He urged UPND not to look for faults.
“The point is don't look for faults. Our brothers should not look for faults to break the pact.

I have been insulted, the vice-president has been insulted by some leaders from UPND but I have never heard any public pronouncement not even private denunciation. No one has even written a letter to us so who is breaking the pact, is it us or them?” he asked.

He said the Chilanga by-election was a very small issue which people should not even fight over.

“Chilanga is a very small issue, very, very small issue. Chilanga is just as small as Luena was and Chilanga should not be what people should be fighting about. They are coming out in the open and if they are coming out in the open Wynter Kabimba also spoke the position of the party. We PF have not met. We are not going to be intimidated by UPND. We have a party to run.

The party was registered in 2001 and the party is run by our Central Committee,” Sata said. “If you look at our party symbol what do you see first?...A boat before you see a person. And you can only tell the type of person when the boat is nearer. PF came first UPND came second. And I will abide by the decisions of PF. The pact is subsidiary, a small body to PF. PF has been existing for ten years and I cannot appease anybody contrary to the thinking of PF.

And my function here is to strengthen Patriotic Front just as my friends are trying to strengthen UPND by geographical strength. That's what it’s all about because if you talk about geographical strength all the stories going round and round over this geographical strength.”

And Kabimba wondered how Nkombo could question his understanding of the pact when he was part of the meeting that consummated it and drafted the communiqué on June 4, 2009.

Kabimba said he did not know why Nkombo was left out of the UPND delegation that met the PF to discuss the formation of the pact.

He said it was very clear that UPND did not enter into the pact in good faith.
“And the indicators that UPND did not come into this pact in good faith are the following; the fact that they have refused to acknowledge just the mere fact that PF has more MPs than UPND.

They have also refused to acknowledge the fact that Michael Sata going by the 2006 and 2008 elections came out to be more popular than Mr Hichilema,” Kabimba said. “They have to date been dragging their feet against these facts to discuss the issue of who should be the president of the pact and also the presidential candidate in 2011.

Instead what they have done is to instigate their junior officers like Joe Kalusa to be continuously attacking Mr Sata, Dr Guy Scott and myself as secretary general of PF. And against these attacks I have not heard Mr Hichilema condemn these consistent attacks by junior members of UPND against the PF senior membership. Certainly, this cannot be an organization that is in this pact in good faith.”

Kabimba said UPND was appealing for public sympathy in the hope of changing next year’s voting pattern.

However, he noted that the PF was too big and had strong membership and could not be swayed by public sympathy.

“For me it is not a question of being in support of or against this pact. It is about who is able, from the PF, to see the bad faith projected by the UPND. The views I have projected have not been different whether in UPND or PF meetings and in one on one meetings with Mr Hichilema himself,” Kabimba said.

“For as long as I believe that the pact is working to weaken PF I will not support it. Neither will I pretend that it is working to the benefit of the country. UPND is riding on the horse of duplicity, which I cannot support.

I am not a Chola boy of anybody whether in UPND or PF. I have a very independent position whether in UPND or PF. I don’t look over my shoulders when I am expressing a view. I just express my view.”
Kabimba said Hichilema was aware of his views over the relationship between the PF and UPND and Nkombo would do well to ask him.

He said the differences that surrounded the fielding of candidates during the Luena, Chadiza and Chama by-elections appeared to be an isolated incident but the issues surrounding Chilanga were now proving otherwise.
“I wrote a letter this morning telling them that their position on Chilanga does not represent the position of PF.

I wrote the letter to their secretary general and there is nothing secret about it. The correlation between Luena and Chadiza and Chama, issues precipitated to this level where you The Post were even accused of having fueled the confusion that was there at the time.

But this time there was meeting on Friday September 17 and the UPND had put a conditionality that the working group cannot address the issue of who fields in Mpulungu Constituency unless the issue of who fields in Chilanga is also part of the agenda,” Kabimba explained.

“But the PF group had no mandate to discuss that matter because we have not held any internal consultations up to now. So that meeting was deferred to Tuesday and PF gave in to discuss Chilanga when we had not done any consultation internally.

On Luena, the impression was that it was a one off. I was clear in my mind that this was not a one off and this issue of Chilanga goes to prove that.”
Kabimba said there was no memorandum of understanding between PF and UPND but a communiqué drawn last year.

“It is very clear that they didn’t come in good faith and Hichilema thought that he would come into this thing like they did in UDA. They thought they would walk in and subdue all of us and appear as champions and get Hichilema to the helm. That is why they find a guy like me as being anti-pact,” said Kabimba.

“Up to now they are avoiding to discuss the presidency. We have said let us appoint a mediator but they don’t want to pick mediators. I have had one on one meetings with Hichilema and he knows my position.

I have told him that ‘if your main objective is being president of the pact, then that is impossible’. It’s not like I vacillate or shift positions depending on who is standing in front of me. My position has been very consistent and nothing can shock anybody.”

Labels: GARY NKOMBO, MICHAEL SATA, PF-UPND, WYNTER KABIMBA

posted by MrK @ 5:58 PM