Maravi

Officials blame Mulongoti for divisions in MMD

Officials blame Mulongoti for divisions in MMD
By George Chellah and Moses Kuwema
Sun 14 Nov. 2010, 04:01 CAT

SENIOR MMD officials have blamed Mike Mulongoti for the recent divisions and confusion that have emerged after the internal elections. Well-placed sources within the MMD yesterday attributed the recent problems in Lusaka, Eastern and Western provinces to Mulongoti, who is also the party’s chairman for elections.

“What happened is that Mulongoti issued a circular that all district and constituency elections must be concluded by October 16, 2010, in order to pave way for provincial conferences which should have commenced October 30, 2010. But because of the Chilanga and Mpulungu by-elections, it was felt that Lusaka Province can’t manage to hold the conference because they had just come out of a loss in Chilanga. So it was decided that Central Province be the first one to hold elections but due to unforeseen circumstances the elections in Central Province were also put on hold,” the sources revealed.

“And for the confusion within the party Western Province, Mulongoti on October 12, 2010 or somewhere thereabout issued a circular to the provincial chairman instructing that they should conduct the Mongu district elections on October 17, 2010. Unfortunately, on that day the President also travelled to Western Province to launch a developmental project, which meant that the programme clashed because it was not possible for the party officials to attend both functions.

“In fact, one of the senior officials there said Mulongoti told them to proceed with the elections despite the programmes clashing because there was enough time for them to conduct the elections since the President was leaving the province in the afternoon. But Simasiku Namakando’s group was against this idea because they were not ready, so they took advantage of the clash in programme to propose for a postponement.”

The sources said Namakando’s faction proposed that the elections be conducted on October 23, 2010.

“This also did not go down well with the rival group led by defence deputy minister Joseph Mulyata. As a result, Mulyata’s group went ahead with the elections that were supervised by four provincial leaders who were later suspended by Namakando for conducting elections without his consent as provincial chairman. These officials had in mind Mulongoti’s instructions through a circular that they should have elections by October 17, 2010,” the sources said.

“They obeyed Mulongoti’s instructions and went ahead that ‘let’s beat the deadline because the President has already left’. But the Namakando group was not ready so they also resolved that we can’t have two functions. Mulyata went ahead with elections bearing in mind that the chairman for elections had instructed them to do so. And Namakando also claims to have sought permission from Mulongoti that they should not hold elections on October 17, 2010 but the elections should be held on October 23, 2010. According to them, Mulongoti sanctioned their date too.”

The sources disclosed that Mulongoti has failed to prevail on Lusaka Province chairman William Banda and Eastern Province chairman Kennedy Zulu.

“As chairman for elections Mulongoti knows what is happening in Eastern Province, he knows that Kennedy is just appointing people. Even in Lusaka Province, Mulongoti knows that William Banda didn’t conduct any serious elections, he was just appointing people during the constituency and district elections. He knows all these problems and what he doesn’t realise is that such activities are weakening the foundations of the party,” the sources said.

“It’s clear that Mulongoti has not managed the party elections well that’s why we have bitter junior officials everywhere. You can see that due to poor administration, the provincial elections have not taken off despite them having been planned. No wonder a number of senior members in the NEC are saying that he has failed to run the elections including the scheduled ones. It’s not a secret, the party is divided and if we continue on this path, the convention may even divide us further. Mulongoti needs to improve or show leadership if we have to go next year’s elections as a strong team.”

But when contacted, Mulongoti wondered how the circular he issued could cause confusion and divisions when they were meant to guide party leaders and members.

He accused those who want to ignore his directives of being behind the confusion.

“Those instructions were specific. It is only those people who are undemocratic that want to create this confusion. Tell them to come out in the open because we have got channels to follow if one is aggrieved. If anyone is not happy they must bring it to my attention by making it official then we shall know how to proceed. I am not going to tell them what they should do in their respective districts and constituencies but I will give guidelines, so let them sort out their problems and not involve me,” Mulongoti said.

Mulongoti said there is need to remain resolute on these matters and that he was basing his argument on the constitution of the party.

And on the circular he issued to Mongu for the holding of elections, Mulongoti stated: “The tour of the president was in Kalabo not in Mongu so how can people in Mongu, fail to hold elections? Let them sort out their problems and not involve me.”

Labels: MIKE MULONGOTI, MMD

posted by MrK @ 6:27 PM