MMD suspends Bowman for gross misconduct
By Allan Mulenga
Sat 27 July 2013, 14:00 CAT
THE MMD has suspended its youth wing leader Bowman Lusambo for gross misconduct. But Lusambo says he will not be intimidated by greedy and selfish senior party leaders.
According to a letter dated July 25, 2013 signed by the party's deputy national secretary Chembe Nyangu and copied to MMD president Nevers Mumba, Lusambo has been suspended for
issuing disparaging media statements without clearance from the leadership. Nyangu further stated that Lusambo's unprecedented manoeuvres to destabilise the party could not be condoned.
"I have observed with dismay and shock that despite the one-on-one discussion with you in my office recently to counsel you against issuance of disparaging media statements against the party for which you showed remorse and promised never to release any further uncleared press statements the trend has continued," read the letter in part. "It is in view of the aforesaid that I have decided to invoke powers vested in me via Article 46 (1) (2) and (5) of the constitution of the party read together with disciplinary regulation No. 6 of 1993, the following charge is preferred against you."
Nyangu stated that Lusambo had no mandate to assume the role of the party's spokesperson to be able to issue press statements bordering on matters of policy.
"You issued a scathing attack on the party leadership which was published in The Post Newspaper edition No. 6122 of Tuesday July 23, 2013 that, Michael Kaingu, Dr Brian Chituwo, Kabinga Pande and Kapembwa Simbao are political serial killers. This statement to say the least was uncalled for particularly that it came from a junior member of the party," read the letter in part.
Nyangu directed Lusambo to submit an exculpatory statement within 10 days from the day the letter was issued.
But Lusambo said he would not be cowed into threats by senior party leaders.
"I have received the letter with deep shock because the suspension lacks merit and substance. The MMD Die-Hard youth wing was founded to provide effective checks and balances on MMD senior leaders. We shall not be threatened by anyone. We will not allow our party to be destroyed by greedy and selfish senior leaders. The suspension will not shake me in any way," said Lusambo in an interview yesterday.
Wrangles have rocked MMD with vice-presidents Michael Kaingu and Dr Brian Chituwo, national chairperson Kabinga Pande and national secretary Kapembwa Simbao summoning the party president Nevers Mumba to the secretariat over his leadership style.
The four senior members have asked Mumba to resign from his position.
But Mumba said he was aware of the ploy by senior party members to hound him out of the party.
But Lusambo described Kaingu, Dr Chituwo, Pande and Simbao as political "serial killers".
Labels: BOWMAN LUSAMBO, CORRUPTION, MMD
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UPND's insincerity is starting to grate on MMD
By Editor
Tue 09 July 2013, 14:00 CAT
Bowman Lusambo, MMD Die Hard Youth Wing national coordinator, says it has become apparent to all the youth in the party that UPND and its leader Hakainde Hichilema do not mean well for the MMD.
Lusambo says, "The UPND is clearly insulting our intelligence. This party is insincere and selfish. It has become clear that HH and his UPND are not our friends, so it's better we support the PF, which is more of a progressive party than the UPND. The PF as a ruling party means well in many areas compared to the UPND. No wonder the PF-UPND pact crumbled…because the UPND is not trustworthy. They don't want to work with other opposition parties in honesty".
Are these words really coming from someone in MMD? Yes, they are. These seem to be the true feelings of MMD's Lusambo and his colleagues in the youth wing of that party.
We understand the feelings of Lusambo because we came to this conclusion a long time ago. Lusambo and his colleagues are seeing what we saw in the UPND many years ago.
When we expressed similar views about the UPND, we were called all sorts of names and accused of all sorts of things. We know that the UPND will dismiss and denounce Lusambo and what he is saying. They will call him all sorts of names. That's how they react to criticism of their party and of their leader Hakainde. They seem to pay very little attention to criticism. Yet, there is a lot to learn from honest criticism.
At this rate, the UPND and its leadership will soon find itself totally isolated. Their relationships with other opposition political parties have never been that good. They have tried to get into alliances or pacts with other political parties but all have failed. Why? It is simply because they are greedy and too full of themselves. They have no regard for others. All that matters to them is what they themselves want.
But it is not possible to have a meaningful relationship with others if you have no respect for them and if all you think about is yourself and your position in things.
The problem with the UPND is, as Lusambo correctly put it, their lack of respect for others and their propensity to underrate the intelligence of others.
UPND doesn't have much to say politically, but it's a party of people who believe they know more about politics than others. If they are more intelligent than others, Why are they not in government? Why don't they have a majority in Parliament? The truth is that there is a lot of emptiness, arrogance and lack of humility in the UPND.
If you want to enter into meaningful relationships with others, you have to accept their integrity. If you are not prepared to respect others, then you must not enter into or think about political alliances or pacts. And as we have repeatedly pointed out before, no true cooperation, political alliances or pacts can be built on the shifting sands of evasions, illusions and opportunism. There is too much opportunism in the UPND. And the UPND leadership seemed to be permanently wedded to an illusory political world which they dominate.
There seems to be a lot of desperation on the part of Hakainde. And this is understandable because Hakainde came into politics to quickly become president of the Republic of Zambia. Following the UPND's very good performance in the 2001 elections, Hakainde thought he was going to be president after the 2006 elections. He miscalculated. The performance of UPND has never gone back to 2001. The party's political standing has been declining. Hakainde today doesn't seem to know what to do: he is not moving forward and he doesn't seem to be ready to move backwards. Hakainde seems to be in a casino and doesn't know when to leave. Every dice that is thrown, he hopes it will reverse his fortunes and as such, he keeps going on and on. Today, Hakainde barks at anything - he even barks at the wind. His presence has to be felt by talking even when he has nothing to say. As a result, the man is talking nonsense most of the time.
This desperation has pushed Hakainde and the UPND to start recruiting even from political parties that are supposed to be their allies. Anyway, prostitutes try anything; they have no respect even for the spouses of their friends. This is certainly not a recipe for the revival of UPND's political fortunes. Hakainde has ruined UPND and the party will never even be able to recover with him at its helm.
Of course, Hakainde will dismiss all this as hatred for him and his party - and sometimes he doesn't even hesitate to extend this to hatred for his tribe. Anyway, for Hakainde everything begins and ends in that way.
Today, all can see what Hakainde and UPND stand for. Their opportunism has become difficult to conceal. That's why even young politicians like Lusambo can see through Hakainde and UPND. They can see that they don't mean well for anybody other than themselves. And they are today in a position to appreciate why the pact between the UPND and the Patriotic Front could not work.
The only person who thinks he can benefit from the MMD's association with UPND seems to be Rupiah Banda. For some reason, Rupiah thinks the UPND is better placed to defend his interests. And indeed they have tried. It takes a lot for a person like Hakainde, who not very long ago used to accuse Rupiah of corruption, to be defending him against corruption charges today. Of course, Hakainde does nothing for nothing.
Hakainde is doing all this in the belief that Rupiah will deliver the Eastern Province vote to him. But how can Rupiah deliver to Hakainde that which he failed to deliver to himself? Rupiah doesn't own Eastern Province. Rupiah is not a factor in Eastern Province today. If Hakainde is banking on Rupiah to deliver Eastern Province to him, he is certainly working on the wrong thing.
And the close relationship between Rupiah and Hakainde is not difficult to discern. A good number of people who were politically very close to Rupiah have left the MMD for UPND. And they still maintain that close relationship with Rupiah while in the UPND. But again, all these, Rupiah's people, whom UPND is getting from MMD, failed to deliver for Rupiah himself. The question is: how are they going to deliver for Hakainde? These are the shifting sands of evasions, illusions and opportunism on which Hakainde and UPND want to build political alliances with others. Can it work?
Labels: BOWMAN LUSAMBO, MMD, OPPOSITION, UPND
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UPND doesn't mean well for MMD, says Lusambo
By Misheck Wangwe in Kitwe and Henry Sinyangwe in Lusaka
Sun 07 July 2013, 14:01 CAT
MMD Die-Hard youth wing national coordinator Bowman Lusambo says MMD youths will support the PF in the forthcoming Kafulafuta and Solwezi-East parliamentary by-election because of what he terms treacherous behaviour of Hakainde Hichilema's UPND.
And NRP leader Cosmo Mumba says his party will support the PF in Kafulafuta. In an interview yesterday, Lusambo said the youths had resolved to rally behind the PF in the two by-elections except for Chipata Central where the party had fielded a candidate.
Lusambo said it had become apparent to all the youths in the party that UPND together with its leader Hichilema did not mean well for the MMD, adding that the UPND wanted to use the loose alliance that was formed over the forthcoming by-elections to manipulate the former ruling party and gain political mileage.
"The UPND is clearly insulting our intelligence. This party is insincere and selfish. It is sad that it is coming from our fellow opposition party the UPND. We had a loose alliance in Chipata over the by-election, where UPND pretended that they wanted us to trade, they give us Chipata, we give them Solwezi-East. They were stuck in Chipata. They didn't have a candidate. Little did we know that they were persuading our candidate to stand on their ticket but our candidate also rejected their idea," Lusambo explained.
"Few days ago, Hichilema issued a statement concerning Evelyn Mwanawasa that their party welcomes her decision to withdraw from the Kafulafuta seat. If HH was a politician, he would have not commented on Evelyn Mwanawasa, but the thing is, he mocked us at that press briefing over our awkward situation we found ourselves in over Kafulafuta after Evelyn withdrew from the race because of her health. It has become clear that HH and his UPND are not our friends so it's better we support the PF which is a more of a progressive party than the UPND."
Lusambo said MMD youths expected Hichilema to exhibit maturity and treat the problems in the MMD over Kafulafuta and Mwanawasa's withdrawal from the race as matters that were outside his boundary and he should not have commented over the issue.
He said the MMD youths would show Hichilema the real politics by vigorously campaigning with the PF in Kafulafuta and Solwezi-East to defeat the UPND because the party does not mean well in politics.
Lusambo said their stance to support the PF in the two by-elections was for the betterment of the MMD because the PF as a ruling party meant well in many areas compared to the UPND and nobody would reverse the decision of the youth wing in the party.
"No wonder the PF-UPND pact crumbled in 2011 before the elections. This is because the UPND is not trustworthy. They don't want to work with other opposition parties in honesty. And let them not be cheated, Dora Siliya is a very intelligent politician. She will not accept to stand on the UPND ticket knowing her character because we have heard that there were some links and they want to persuade her to stand in Petauke. It will not happen," said Lusambo said.
And Cosmo Mumba said he was on the ground drumming up support for the PF candidate.
He condemned Nevers Mumba's recent attack on the Judiciary.
He said it was disappointing that Nevers Mumba had launched an attack on the Judiciary following the Supreme Court's nullification of Siliya's election as Chipata Central Member of Parliament.
And Mumba who is National Revolution Party president said MMD has lost favour from God because its leadership had failed to live within the biblical tenets.
He said the nullification of the seats should not be blamed on President Michael Sata or the Judiciary.
"The nullification of Dora Siliya's results is loss of favour by MMD from God. They have lost favour with God because this leadership of Dr Mumba has failed to live within the biblical tenets because when Dora Siliya raised a middle finger in Parliament, Dr Mumba was quiet. When Michael Kaingu supported Dora Siliya for insulting, Dr Mumba was quiet," said Cosmo Mumba.
Labels: BOWMAN LUSAMBO, MMD, UPND
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Nevers is a fraud who has weakened MMD - Namugala
By Allan Mulenga and Roy Habaalu
Fri 11 Jan. 2013, 14:00 CAT
NEVERS Mumba is a fraud who has weakened MMD, says Catherine Namugala. But MMD acting national secretary Kapembwa Simbao says Namugala's conduct is likely to bring the MMD into contempt, ridicule and disrepute.
However, Namugala insists that Simbao is not MMD national secretary. And MMD Die-Hard national coordinator Bowman Lusambo on Tuesday reported Namugala to the police for allegedly threatening violence.
Simbao had written Namugala, who is Mafinga MMD member of parliament, a disciplinary letter dated December 24, 2012, in which he charged her on two counts.
The first charge was that Namugala's statement in The Post of December 20, last year under the headline; 'Namugala Wants Nevers Out', was malicious and contemptuous.
"The fact that the statement comes from a very senior member of the party creates an impression our party has lost direction and is in shambles. Your message to the members through your press statement frustrates the spirit of reconstructing our party in the midst of our adversity and thereby hinders ultimate rapid growth which we are tirelessly striving to achieve," stated Simbao.
He stated that Namugala was insubordinate to senior party organs and officials in relation to regulation seven of 1993.
"You have failed to comply and adhere to an agreed party position not to issue press statements without obtaining express clearance and permission from the chief executive of the party, the national secretary," Simbao stated.
"You are fully aware that such media reports have the potential to dent the image of the party. In view of the aforesaid, coupled with the seriousness of the charges levelled against you. You are therefore, required to submit an exculpatory statement in defence or lack of it within 10 days from the date of this letter in conformity with regulation 9(2) of the disciplinary regulations - 1993."
In her response dated January 2, 2013, Namugala stated that she would not relent in calling for Mumba's removal.
"I will not relent to call for the removal of Nevers Mumba because he is not a duly-elected president of our party. Instead, he is a fraud who has weakened our party and, unless removed, the party will go into oblivion," read her letter in part, which was copied to Mumba, vice-president for political affairs Michael Kaingu and his administration counterpart Brian Chituwo, as well as chairperson for legal affairs Bradford Machila.
Namugala stated that the disciplinary charges levelled against her were frivolous and orchestrated by Mumba.
"As relates to your charges against me, please note that they are misplaced and orchestrated by Nevers Mumba because both Mumba and I have been quoted by the media as saying one thing or the other. I therefore demand that you also take disciplinary action against him and charge Nevers Mumba for bringing the name of the party into disrepute by issuing statements against Dr Chituwo and I as having been sponsored to destabilise the party," she stated.
And Namugala stated that Simbao was not MMD national secretary.
"Firstly, please note that you are not the national secretary of our party MMD and that the substantive national secretary is Major Richard Kachingwe. Therefore, you have no standing, nor authority, to charge me.
That notwithstanding, your purported disciplinary charges have given me an opportunity to put on record facts that are to be said about the state of our party, especially the leadership of Dr Nevers Mumba," stated the letter.
The MMD has been embroiled in wrangles over Mumba's leadership.
And in a turn of events in MMD, Lusambo, who arrived at Lusaka's Bennie Mwiinga police post after 11:00 hours, complained that he was living in fear after Namugala allegedly said during an interview with ZNBC that she would finish the Die-Hard.
He was accompanied by Scorpion Kadobi, an MMD member who, with Lusambo, is facing a charge of assaulting Maj Kachingwe.
"My life is in danger because Namugala has paid some youths to physically beat me and it's those same youths after they are paid that come and inform me of their plan. The people she's been using have confessed to me that they are working on a plan to attack me," Lusambo told officer-in-charge Steven Kabwe before lodging a formal complaint.
Lusambo said most of the youths being used were not MMD members but jobless ones that Namugala had taken advantage of.
"She (Namugala) has told them to manhandle me and fortunately for me, they are telling the plan at every stage before they execute their mission. I receive private phone calls from anonymous people, warning me to watch my steps," he said.
Asked why Namugala could be planning to harm him, Lusambo said he had no clue whatsoever.
Lusambo said he was not being a coward by reporting the matter to the police and that he was a law-abiding citizen.
Labels: BOWMAN LUSAMBO, CATHERINE NAMUGALA, KAPEMBWA SIMBAO, MMD, NEVERS MUMBA
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