Maravi

MMD's future bleak - Katele

COMMENT - What is the point of a 'movement for multi-party democracy', when multi party elections were re-established 21 years ago, and the neoliberal ideology they adopted in the absence of a real ideology of their own, has proven to be an excuse for rampant corruption and plunder of national resources, especially in the mining sector?

MMD's future bleak - Katele
By Ernest Chanda
Mon 20 Feb. 2012, 12:01 CAT

KATELE Kalumba says MMD's future is bleak unless those leading the party hand over power to the new generation.

Commenting on the party's recent loss to the ruling Patriotic Front in the Msanzala parliamentary by-election, Katele, who is former MMD national secretary, said people who were not tainted should be allowed to lead the party.

Asked if he was backing any of the candidates for the party presidency, Katele responded in the negative.

"First of all, it was expected and it says a lot about where the party is.

The point is Msanzala was supposed to be a stronghold of our party;

Peter Daka a very senior member who had re-contested after his failure.

"One would expect that if it was a fluke that Colonel Joseph Lungu had won as an independent he could have proved this time around that Daka could win back that support. But it shows that people have drifted away from the party already; the future is bleak," Katele said.

"I was happy to hear that the system is still open; let the young people join into this race to take on leadership. We are tired of the same faces of the Katele Kalumbas and so on, there are other people who will come in. I believe that most of those that have been tainted by…, that's what people used to tell me that you are tainted you can't stand. How come people who are tainted they still want to stand? So let's allow the young generations who have not been tainted by the politics of those days and the economics of those days if they want to aspire."

Katele said the party needed to address issues such as corruption within its ranks in order to regain people's confidence.

He said fate had avenged for him because others in the party maligned him in many ways.

"Leadership needs to be renewed and the issues that people were concerned about that brought the PF into power must be addressed. The party had become too distant from the people, it had become too elitist and stories of corruption, rigging and all that. Would do you expect support? In the news every day we're hearing horrendous stories about what people were doing," said Katele.

"Meanwhile the same people were at the forefront of shouting at others, but fate has its own revenge. It says a lot; don't throw your stone if you live in a glass house, as they say. Don't hide your incapacities by attacking others. Now what is left is for the party to address these serious questions of how it can improve leadership; bring the young people in, let the older generation go, address the perception of the public vis a vis its image of a corrupt party, a party that does not listen to the people; those are the things that have to be addressed. For now the future looks pretty bleak, I must add."

In last Thursday's Msanzala parliamentary by-election, PF candidate Colonel Lungu scooped the seat after beating MMD's Peter Daka.

Col Lungu polled 7,172; Daka got 4,065; UNIP's Shadreck Banda got 201, while Usman Maumba, an independent candidate polled 355.

The seat fell vacant after Col Lungu, then independent member of parliament, resigned and joined the PF.

Labels: KATELE KALUMBA, MMD, NEOLIBERALISM

posted by MrK @ 1:42 PM