chituwo, nevers differ
chituwo, nevers differBy Allan Mulenga and Kombe Chimpinde
Sun 16 Dec. 2012, 14:00 CAT
MMD vice-president for administration Dr Brian Chituwo and party president Nevers Mumba have differed over the expulsion of Major Richard Kachingwe as national secretary.
Dr Chituwo insists that Maj Kachingwe is still the national secretary of the party.
And MMD chairperson for women affairs Catherine Namugala says the happenings in the party have brought shame to the membership.
Dr Chituwo said the action taken by Mumba to expel the Maj Kachingwe was unconstitutional and that it would be tabled at the next full National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.
The MMD expelled Maj Kachingwe and replaced him with Kapembwa Simbao.
This was after Maj Kachingwe invalidated Mumba's presidency because he was still president of Reform Party.
However, Dr Chituwo, who was at speaking at a media briefing held at the MMD secretariat in Lusaka said Maj Kachingwe's proposed invalidation of Mumba's presidency was equally wrong but that NEC would deliberate on his alleged dual presidency in respect of the party's constitution.
"Two wrongs were committed. The first was the expulsion of ambassador Maj Kachingwe as national secretary.
The second was also the proposed invalidation of the election of Nevers Mumba as our party president. None of these actions are blessed by our constitution. Only the National Executive Committee and the lower organs have the authority to initiate disciplinary action and for that matter that leads to expulsion.
In this regard therefore, we see that the image of the party was severely dented and these two actions as you have seen have created anger among many of our loyal and faithful members," Dr Chituwo said.
"As such, it is our duty to assure the membership that the National Executive Committee will meet in the shortest possible time to consider the two issues alluded to; the membership of our president Dr Mumba and charges levelled against Major Kachingwe."
Dr Chituwo said MMD wanted to embrace the old tradition of dialogue within the party and not the arbitrary way of making decisions which the party had since embraced.
He said he was saddened at what happened at the party's secretariat in the last two weeks and that only a full NEC meeting would decide the way forward on the fate of the two individuals.
"As leadership, we are prepared to sacrifice in order to keep our party intact. Let us as members therefore pay allegiance to our party and not individuals. Our rallying point must always be the constitution. Human as we may be, we must admit when we make mistakes. That is great leadership," Dr Chituwo said.
"No one shall be above the constitution. The rules that we made ourselves in the conduct of business of the party."
And Namugala urged party's leadership to avoid abrogating the constitution.
"It is not easy right now to answer questions that come from the membership especially the women in the party. They are asking which way their party is going. They are actually saying you are misdirecting the party. The party belongs to them. Everyone has to have a say and their say is the constitution," she said.
"We need to respect the constitution. The happenings of the last two weeks have brought shame to the MMD. Where we have seen our national secretary being dragged by youths and the next thing we see is our president coming in triumphantly. All these things have created questions."
On assertions that she was among the six MMD members of parliament who wanted to defect to the PF, Namugala refuted the claims saying that she would remain a loyal member of the party.
"As for whether Namugala is resigning or not, I have nowhere else to go, Mr vice-president. I love my party and I will remain member of MMD and I want to assure everyone else out there who loves MMD the way I do to remain in MMD," she said.
Namugala urged party leaders to avoid insulting those that were in power, but offer constructive criticism.
"Leaders should not remain in MMD insulting those that are in power, but to remain in MMD to providing checks and balances; providing constructive criticism to the party that is in power.
As a party we should not be seen as a party that just insults," said Namugala.
Efforts to get a comment from Mumba proved futile as his mobile phone went unanswered by press time.
Labels: BRIAN CHITUWO, CATHERINE NAMUGALA, MMD, NEVERS MUMBA, RICHARD KACHINGWE
posted by MrK @ 4:18 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home