Maravi

Mpombo to campaign for Patrick

Mpombo to campaign for Patrick
By Chibaula Silwamba
Thu 30 June 2011, 04:01 CAT

PATRICK Mwanawasa’s defection from the MMD to PF is a vote of no confidence in Rupiah Banda’s leadership, says George Mpombo. And Mpombo yesterday said he would not re-contest his Kafulafuta parliamentary seat but vigorously campaign for Patrick, the eldest son of the late president Levy Mwanawasa, in the forthcoming elections.

In a telephone interview, Mpombo said Patrick’s defection had a lot of significance and it was a clear demonstration that MMD was a sinking ship and would not survive.

“In America they call a defection like Patrick’s heading for the biggest shellacking; a major defeat. It’s more than mammoth defeat,” said Mpombo, the incumbent member of parliament for Kafulafuta Constituency in Ndola rural, homeland of the late president Mwanawasa, on the MMD ticket.

“Patrick’s departure is a vote of no confidence in the leadership of the party because the party has suffered a tragic leadership failure especially the President.”

He said he would support Patrick to the hilt.

“I will be campaigning for Patrick and we will put an effective campaign programme for him because I am certainly not standing in Kafulafuta Constituency. I will support his candidature for several reasons. Firstly, the government has criminally vandalised his father’s legacy to the extent that they want to completely extinguish his contribution to the economic development of this country. So Patrick’s presence in politics will sustain his father’s legacy,” Mpombo said.

“Secondly, I encourage him because he is a youth. Youths are a conveyor belt of tomorrow’s leadership. Thirdly, I will support him because the PF is bigger than me and it needs an important bridge in Kafulafuta Constituency as a launch pad for Ndola rural.”

He said the Banda administration was pushing Mwanawasa’s six-and-half-year reign into oblivion by attributing all the developments he undertook to the incumbent president.

Mpombo said Mwanawasa had regarded President Banda, then his vice-president, as his relation but the latter had let down the deceased president.

Mpombo also said the MMD had lost ground in Chongwe, where the ruling party suspended area member of parliament and its national executive committee (NEC) women’s committee chairperson Sylvia Masebo who has since resigned, on what he termed flimsy grounds.

“For instance, Chongwe and Lusaka rural, traditionally, has been a no-go area for any other political party apart from MMD. The opposition’s infiltration in Chongwe has taken away a major pillar of support for the MMD in Lusaka Province,” said Mpombo.

Last Friday, Patrick announced his defection from the MMD to join the PF and has since applied to stand in Kafulafuta while Masebo announced her resignation from the MMD in a letter to national secretary Major Richard Kachingwe on Monday.

Labels: GEORGE MPOMBO, MMD, PATRICK MWANAWASA, PF

posted by MrK @ 6:40 PM