Maravi

Mangani won't have it easy in E/Province - Andrew
By Francis Lungu
Wed 09 Oct. 2013, 14:01 CAT

ANDREW Banda says Lameck Mangani will not have it easy to organise the PF in Eastern Province because he does not have the ability to do so in the opposition MMD stronghold. But Mangani says Andrew is not in the MMD party leadership structure to speak on these issues.

In an interview, Andrew said the MMD was thankful to President Michael Sata for appointing Mangani as PF chairperson for the province because he would make it easy for the opposition MMD to mobilise.

Asked on Mangani's allegations that the MMD was winning parliamentary by-elections in Eastern Province because of the rigging structures left by his father Banda as it was impossible for a candidate to get a zero vote at a polling station no matter how poor he or she could be, Andrew said the PF leadership in the province was cheating President Michael Sata that all was well.

"We (MMD) thank (President) Sata and the PF for appointing Mangani provincial chairman. Let us see if he can organise the PF in Eastern Province," he said.

But Mangani wondered in what capacity Andrew was speaking within the MMD because he was not in the party leadership structure.

"Andrew is speaking as what, an MMD official or the son of Rupiah Banda who was once the leader of the party?" Mangani wondered.

He said Andrew should not be excited with the victory of MMD in Mkaika because the PF leadership in the province knows what happened and the tricks the former ruling party used to win.

"We are aware of what Andrew did during the campaigns in Mkaika, there is nothing to be excited about. Actually the PF is gaining ground in Eastern Province, the tide is changing in favour of the PF. I am not interested in politics of tribe if that is what Andrew is promoting because his father was MMD leader then he thinks can speak on MMD affairs," Mangani said.

But Andrew said the ruling party was losing elections in the East also because it was not doing the ground work.

"They did not do their work; that's all. Politics is about work; they did not campaign, and they were cheating the President (Sata) just like people have been cheating other presidents in the past, that all was well when things are not okay on the ground. There is no fertiliser in the country but they tell the President that all is well," Andrew said.

Statistically, however, Mangani said the ruling PF was penetrating into Eastern Province because it won the Msanzala Parliamentary by-elections, a seat previous held by the MMD.

He said the MMD just returned its Mkaika and Chipata Central Parliamentary seat, where Mangani himself lost.

"PF won all the three local government elections in Lundazi and won two out of three in Nyimba and even in Petauke, PF won two out of the three local government seats, so what is Andrew talking about?," questioned Mangani.

But Andrew claimed that Mangani was not his match in political mobilisation because he (Andrew) had been in politics for 25 years.
Meanwhile, Andrew accused Mangani of having personal hatred towards the Banda family, which behaviour he said was unAfrican.

"Mangani's behaviour is unAfrican and unZambian. One day, he wakes up, he says Rupiah Banda is meeting chiefs for him to stand again. Patronising leadership! What is it that he has against our family? Can he tell us where his father is so that we also talk about his family… But we are not interested in personalities; we are interested in the law. I was arrested and let the law take its course," he said in reference to his arrest over the political violence that characterised the Mkaika parliamentary by-election, in which MMD retained the seat.

"I was charged with an offence of violence in Chipata during the Mkaika parliamentary by-election and the matter is in court, and I will prove it in court that I am not the one who committed that crime and that those people (suspected PF supporters) prove that they did not abduct me," he said.

Andrew also maintained that he would go ahead with legal proceedings against ZNBC and the Zambia Daily Mail for reporting that he was brandishing machetes during the campaigns ahead of the Mkaika poll.

"I am not leaving you (ZNBC and Zambia Daily Mail); I am proceeding with this legal action against ZNBC and Daily Mail… the sooner they retract the better… They accused me of travelling with a machetes all over and hacking people… that thing is not dead; I am reviving it," declared Andrew.

Labels: ANDREW BANDA, EASTERN PROVINCE, LAMECK MANGANI, MMD, PF

posted by MrK @ 7:19 PM