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MMD needs to overhaul its leadership - Chanda

MMD needs to overhaul its leadership - Chanda
By Moses Kuwema
Sun 02 Oct. 2011, 16:20 CAT

MMD needs a complete overhaul of its top leadership, says Sunday Chanda, the party's losing candidate for Kanchibiya Constituency.

Commenting on MMD vice national chairman Kabinga Pande's statement that former president Rupiah Banda was still the president of the party until the next convention, Chanda said if the MMD was going to see the light of tomorrow, the leadership must change and Banda must be allowed to retire from active politics and also relinquish the MMD presidency.

"Now if this does not happen even in the next seven days, what we are going to see is serious mass exodus from MMD structures. We are reliably informed that there are MMD structures across the country that are packing their bags and about to join other structures, so it's also a question of time. If it's not done within a shortest period of time, MMD is dead," Chanda warned.

Chanda said Pande and NEC's position on the issue of presidency was not representative of the general feeling of the people on the ground.

He said the MMD should avoid falling to adapt like dinosaur which failed to adapt and the result was that there was extinction.

"We no longer have dinosaurs, we only read about them. Now there are so many lessons of political parties that ruled and when they got out of power, they ceased to be relevant. Losing an election like MMD did is also a vote of no confidence in the top leadership of a political party," he said.

Chanda said the MMD leadership should realise that the party was founded as a people's party and movement, therefore it was not built around individuals.

"It was a collective wisdom of the people of Zambia to ensure that democracy was brought back to Zambia. Now we have fallen into a trap particularly after the death of Levy Mwanawasa where the leadership in MMD created a monster with their own hands and unfortunately the monster turned around and destroyed the party," he said.

"What I mean is that we moved away from structures, we moved away from MMD being an institution to a party that is centred around individuals and the ‘big man syndrome' came back and raised its ugly head.

The only way forward is to ensure that president Banda must relinquish the presidency of the MMD and still abide by his earlier statement that he is retiring from active politics. There must also be demands that people within the rank and file of the MMD secretariat will have to be revisited," Chanda said.

Chanda said the MMD's loss in the general elections was as a result of having a leadership that was out of touch with the people.

"We had a leadership that could not relate with the young people, that was not alive to the problems and suffering of the people. Having contested the election in Kanchibiya Constituency and seeing the suffering of my people, I understand and I support their decision not to support our party.

I also support their decision to vote for the PF because like a diaper on a baby, leaders must be changed and I think the people made the right decision." We need to have a change of leadership in the MMD. Let's allow for someone younger, someone vibrant.

We need to change the spokesperson for instance; she became a disgrace to the party and to the campaign, she still remains a liability, people that were brought through the back door like the deputy national secretary Chembe Nyangu he has to go. We just need a complete overhaul. There are credible men and women who can rise and provide leadership at this point," Chanda said.

Labels: MMD

posted by MrK @ 1:02 AM