Lusaka will be crucial in this year’s elections - Rupiah

Lusaka will be crucial in this year’s elections - Rupiah
By Patson Chilemba
Sun 23 Jan. 2011, 04:01 CAT

LUSAKA Province will play a very crucial role in this year’s elections, says President Rupiah Banda. And Lusaka Province MMD chairperson William Banda says Lusaka needs real men and women to work because it is not an easy ground to play with.

Addressing delegates to the Lusaka MMD conference at Courtyard Hotel yesterday, President Banda said Lusaka would play a crucial role in this year’s tripartite elections because it had the second highest number of registered voters as at December 31, 2010.

He said the province had a total number of 754,689 registered voters.

President Banda said the high number of registered voters called for concerted efforts by the incoming Lusaka Province executive committee to secure a significant portion of the votes, especially the new votes.

“We need a landslide in Lusaka!” President Banda said.

He said the MMD had come up with a committee to look at the statistics in terms of the registration of voters and parliamentary chief whip Vernon Mwaanga was one of the committee members.

President Banda said the government would uplift all the roads in Mandevu, which had the highest number of voters in Lusaka.

He said the MMD needed a strong and well organised committee to run the affairs, especially in this critical year.

He said the MMD needed to beat the opposition decisively in Lusaka so that they have no excuse when they lose.

President Banda said it was encouraging to see a strong resurgence of support towards the MMD, saying party members were now proud to put on the party regalia unlike before.

He said the Lusaka provincial executive committee (PEC) should strengthen the party in townships where most of the voters live.

He said elections were not won by the number of huge rallies one held but the number of foot soldiers who were willing to conduct door-to-door campaigns.

President Banda said the government was doing enough to develop the country such that Zambia was the third fastest growing economy in Africa.

He said the growth could be seen from the traffic jams, which were increasing on Zambian roads.

He said he was aware of the divisions in the Lusaka Province committee but the MMD needed to unite in order to defeat the opposition.

President Banda said the party leadership would deal ruthlessly with those trying to cause division in the party.

He advised party members to emulate Chongwe MMD parliamentarian Sylvia Masebo.

“I saw the reaction of each one of you, how happy we were. She continues to work for the party with all her energies and ability,” President Banda said.

And William said he had moved with Masebo to revive the party.

He said Lusaka was not easy to play with.

“It requires real men and women to do work,” William said.

He said leaders should stop telling lies against each other.

William said party leaders who were in possession of party property should surrender it before the national convention.

Meanwhile, President Banda and other party leaders failed to rebuke Lusaka District MMD chairperson Paul Chihande when he proposed that William should go unopposed at the conference.

The MMD leaders who included President Banda, Vice-President George Kunda and MMD national chairman Michael Mabenga only burst into laughter after Chihande made the proposal.

And when a member from the audience shouted that Vice-President Kunda should not be challenged for the vice-presidency at the convention, the Vice-President only smiled.

Soon after Chihande had spoken, Mabenga announced to the gathering that William’s main challenger, Nalobe Kuliye had something to say to the people.

Kuliye, who seemed to enjoy a lot of support from the delegates, announced his withdrawal from the race soon after he was called to address the people.

He said it was a personal decision and none of the party leadership forced him to do so.

Kuliye said he had withdrawn because he wanted to maintain unity in the party.

And there was silence when those in the committee looking after the registration statistics announced the number of registered voters per constituency in Lusaka.

Mabenga maintained that Kitwe-based Anglican priest Richard Luonde was a big liar following his statement that there was an alliance between former president Frederick Chiluba and President Banda.

Mabenga said Fr Luonde was not qualified enough to talk about the issue of Barotseland and the discussions should be left to the people of the province and the government.

On Friday, Fr Luonde said the country’s law enforcement agencies must handle the issues surrounding the Barotseland Agreement level headedly.

Fr Luonde also said the dirty marriage between President Banda’s MMD and Chiluba remained a big threat to the dispensation of criminal justice in the country.