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Masebo will tilt the balance - VJ

Masebo will tilt the balance - VJ
By Patson Chilemba, George Chellah and Moses Kuwema
Thu 30 June 2011, 04:00 CAT

VERNON Mwaanga says Sylvia Masebo will tilt the balance in Chongwe depending on the party she decides to stand on for the position of member of parliament.

And MMD sources yesterday disclosed that party national secretary Major Richard Kachingwe on Tuesday held an exclusive meeting with all provincial women's chairpersons at the party secretariat and floated the names of Catherine Namugala or Anne Chungu as Masebo's possible successor.

In an interview last Saturday before Masebo announced her resignation from the ruling party, Mwaanga said Chongwe Constituency had always been a tricky area for the MMD. He said Masebo won the seat in 2001 when she stood on the Zambia Republican Party ticket and regained it again in 2006 when she contested it under the MMD ticket.

"Much will depend on where she decides to go. I have noticed she has been very strong. I have been in charge of campaigns in the MMD, I know Honourable Masebo is very strong and has generally the support of the chieftainess and the general citizenry," Mwaanga said. "So whichever way she decides to go, that's where the balance is going to tilt."

Mwaanga, however, said Chongwe was not the only rural constituency in Lusaka Province, saying he expected the MMD to win the other rural constituencies in the province with PF coming second.

He said in the urban parts of Lusaka, he expected the PF to win, with the MMD coming second.

Masebo on Monday announced her resignation from the MMD following President Rupiah Banda's continued hatred and undemocratic tendencies against her.

The MMD had earlier suspended Masebo, who was the party's national chairperson for women affairs.
Masebo had refused to re-contest her seat on the MMD ticket.

When contacted, after Masebo’s resignation, to find out if he still maintained his position on her credentials in Chongwe now that she had quit MMD, Mwaanga said he still insisted that Masebo was a very strong person in Chongwe and the fact that she had served two five-year terms as member of parliament on two different party tickets proved the point he had been making.

"She has been a very strong MP who is well liked by the local people and she's one that stood on two different parties," said Mwaanga. "So it resignation doesn't really change the position which I advanced when we had the interview earlier. She's a strong member of parliament, she is."

And Mwaanga said the main contenders in this year's elections would be President Rupiah Banda, PF leader Michael Sata, saying UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema had also announced that he would stand.
"You have other lesser parties like Mr Milupi's Alliance for Democracy and Development; I don't even remember Mr Magande's party. I don't even remember the name. UNIP has seen better days," Mwaanga said. "I see it going in favour of MMD. It will be a close election but I still see it go the MMD's way.”

Mwaanga said he anticipated that where the MMD would be losing, they would be coming out as a strong number two.

He said he expected the MMD to win Western, Eastern, North Western and Central provinces while coming out in strong second in the other provinces.

Mwaanga said Luapula and Northern provinces would be contested by the PF and MMD.

Asked on the challenges the MMD was facing in places which had been known to be their strong areas such as Western Province, Mwaanga admitted that there was a challenge, but that it was not insurmountable.

He said every party was facing challenges including the MMD.

Mwaanga appealed to the participants in this year's elections not to dent the image the country had acquired on the holding of peaceful, free and fair elections. He said issues should matter more than insults, saying people should be afforded the opportunity to judge which of the party's was offering better programs to improve the country.

"It is important we all adhere to the code of conduct which will be announced soon and has been translated into local languages," said Mwaanga.

And MMD sources yesterday disclosed that Major Kachingwe on Tuesday held an exclusive meeting with the provincial women's chairpersons at the party secretariat.

According to the sources that attended the meeting, Maj. Kachingwe floated two names as Masebo's replacement for the position of national chairperson for women affairs.

"The names he gave us were Honourable Catherine Namugala and Anne Chungu. And from his tone and language, it was clear that Maj. Kachingwe really wanted Hon. Namugala to take over from Masebo," the source revealed. "Actually, he indirectly indicated that he was only interested in Hon Namugala and not Chungu. But this is confusing because we thought the President wanted Anne Chungu. No wonder he backed her candidature at the last convention in Kabwe. We thought that it was only obvious that Chungu takes over from Masebo but we are now being given fresh indications. We only hope it is the President's wish that Hon. Namugala takes over from Masebo. Otherwise, we have no problem working with either Hon Namugala or Chungu or whomever they will bring forward."

The source said some women thought the process was being rushed.

"It's just that we think it's too soon to replace Masebo. At least they should have waited a little bit before bringing in other people to replace her. As they do this let them not ignore the fact that Masebo still has a following within the party no wonder she was decisively elected at the convention," the source said. "The truth is, at the moment, Masebo still remains the best for that position and we would have loved her to continue. It’s just unfortunate that things turned out this way."

The source said they were surprised with Maj Kachingwe's attacks on Masebo during the press briefing.

"Ba Kachingwe can't be accusing Masebo of being behind the leakages, just for him to please the President. Ba Kachingwe should not mistreat his colleagues when it's convenient for him to do so. Those of us who attended the convention know how ba Kachingwe himself got elected as national secretary," the source said. "The group that supported and campaigned for Masebo at the convention was the same one that also backed ba Kachingwe. In fact, ba Kachingwe won because of VJ. Let him dispute this fact. In short, these people were in league as they were looking for votes from delegates at the convention. But now ba Kachingwe wants to be a champion and talk ill of Masebo as if we don't know what was happening at the convention."

The source advised Maj. Kachingwe not to be too comfortable in his position.

"He is also among the people who are being suspected of being close to Masebo and behind her victory at the convention by the President's inner circle. He is in the category of ba Felix Mutati, VJ, Sarah Sayifwanda, Daniel Munkombwe and Gabriel Namulambe," the source said. "Actually, there are two others who have been added to the witch-hunt list and these are Gladys Nundwe and Lwipa Puma. We only hope the President will halt this harassment, suspicion and cheap and petty gossip within the party that is currently going on."

And the PF yesterday said Masebo was free to join their party if she wished to do so.

In an interview, PF vice-president Dr Guy Scott said Masebo was free to join his party because they all came from the same political academy.

"People have asked me whether Sylvia is coming to PF. Let me say I don't know as the vice-president but if she comes, she will be very welcome because we all come from the same academy; we are all graduates from the same academy, the Michael Sata academy for Zambian politicians," Dr Scott said.

And on Major Kachingwe's statement that MMD would re-contest the Chongwe seat by embarking on an issue-based campaigns, Dr Scott said: "There is no MMD in Chongwe, the development that they have been talking about is not there. The district hospital has no staff there, no beds and there will be no MMD there."

Labels: GUY SCOTT, MMD, PF, SYLVIA MASEBO, VERNON MWAANGA

posted by MrK @ 7:00 PM