MMD ready for consquences of expelling Mpombo, Magande - VJ

MMD ready for consquences of expelling Mpombo, Magande - VJ
By Patson Chilemba and Kombe Chimpinde
Mon 06 Sep. 2010, 04:20 CAT

MMD Parliamentary Chief Whip Vernon Mwaanga yesterday said the party was ready to bear the consequences of expelling George Mpombo and Ng’andu Magande. But Katuba MMD member of parliament Jonas Shakafuswa said the MMD’s intolerance of divergent views within the party was causing mediocre leadership.

Commenting on the expulsion of Kafulafuta member of parliament Mpombo and his Chilanga counterpart Magande by the MMD on Saturday, Mwaanga said it was better to have fewer MMD members of parliament who were disciplined than many indiscipline parliamentarians. He said the party had to take the drastic decision to expel the duo because other avenues to reason with them had failed.

“If they are popular in their constituencies let them go and stand in their constituencies and prove how popular they are.

So far as we are concerned these are seats, which the MMD has held, Chilanga and Kafulafuta. We will go and defend these seats through a by-election. It is a pity that it has come to this,” Mwaanga said.

He said if no disciplinary action had been taken against them, the indiscipline levels in MMD would have increased.

“Other members have been calling on the national executive committee to take action against these two members. Now the action has been taken, and the MMD is ready for whatever consequences may follow,” Mwaanga said.

He said the MMD constitution contained clauses that stipulated how the party could deal with members who did not adhere to the party’s rules, adding that even in a democratic dispensation there was no open-ended situation where members could do whatever they wished.

Mwaanga said the Labour Party in the United Kingdom recently expelled members of parliament who went against the party’s decision.

“There is no democracy anywhere which is open- ended. It has got limits and the limits are that you have to abide by the constitutional provisions of the parties to which you belong,” he said.

Mwaanga said the MMD constitution was democratic because it allowed members to express their opinions through established channels and not through the media.

Asked if the MMD was not guilty of creating unnecessary by-elections in the country, Mwaanga said the MMD had made efforts not to have unnecessary by-elections but they had no option on this score.

He said the party needed to adhere to the constitutional provisions to hold by-elections if vacancies arose.

“In other countries I know where they have proportional representation that they don’t have by-elections because there the next person on the list just fills the post.

I think that we should find a way of ensuring that these by-elections don’t take place because they are a drain on the national economy,” Mwaanga said. “They take away resources from important areas which should really be addressing concerns of ordinary Zambians.

The only thing I can say is that we should do everything to avoid by-elections, but when they come up we have no way of avoiding them because that is a constitutional requirement, and I do hope that we will find a way in future of making sure that there is an electoral system which does not involve having to hold both presidential, parliamentary and local government by-elections.”

But Shakafuswa said Zambians needed inspirational leadership whether or not the MMD retains the Chilanga seat.

In an interview, Shakafuswa charged that it was disheartening to see MMD make grave mistakes at the expense of the party.

“We cannot allow the MMD to continue with such kind of dictatorship. When Gordon Brown was criticising Tony Blair while he was in government, he was not expelled.

When people are criticising you it is a way of self-improvement,” Shakafuswa said. “And these people who are usually making noise when someone raises divergent views, a lot of them are empty brains.

They go in through their noise and dictatorial tendencies always wanting to curtail people with divergent views from expressing them. But if MMD had competition they would not have mediocre leadership.”

He observed that if Zambia continued at the current pace, the consequences would be too ghastly to contemplate.

“Right now some of us cannot talk. We cannot even talk to ZNBC because they are being threatened that if we talk to them they will not give them business. So what channel do the people have to talk?” he asked. “We are not going to be treated like fools in our own country.

If they are scared of competition they should not stay in the public domain. In public domain there is supposed to be competition. The MMD are thinking hundred years behind.”

Shakafuswa called on Zambians to give the opposition a chance to make things right.

“Zambians must allow the opposition with divergent views to thrive as well. You know these opposition politicians, HH UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema, PF leader Mr Michael Sata, ADD’s Charles Milupi should come up with a formula that will force the MMD out.

If they come together they are capable of forming a formidable opposition force, that’s what Zambia needs this time,” he said.

Shakafuswa warned that if Zambians did not do anything about this kind of dictatorship the country could degenerate in governance levels.

“You can imagine our nation embracing dictatorship, that will be mediocrity. We can’t allow it, “ said Shakafuswa.