Both MMD, UPND want Mufumbwe
By Kombe Chimpinde
Sun 09 Sep. 2012, 10:30 CAT
THE MMD says it's only logical that UPND leaves the Mufumbwe seat for it to contest. But UPND says it is very strong in Mufumbwe and therefore deserves to field a candidate.
In an interview on Friday, MMD deputy secretary general Chembe Nyangu said although the MMD and UPND, who had an electoral alliance, had not convened a meeting to discuss how it would forge ahead in terms of the pending by-election in Mufumbwe following the resignation of the area member of parliament, there was no question on who should contest it as the UPND had been given Chongwe and Livingstone seats in recent by-elections.
"Although we have not yet discussed, the only logic is they should give us the seat. We gave them Chongwe and supported them. We also gave them Livingstone," Nyangu said.
"We had a feeling that the seat would be vacant. So we are expecting to work with UPND. The local constituency and ward officials are already working well together in Mufumbwe."
But UPND spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa said that people of Mufumbwe had realised that the seat would have been given to UPND and not politicians who triggered by-elections for their selfish gains.
"Mufumbwe (seat) has come so soon. We have not yet really sat and taken a position, but I can tell you that UPND is very strong in Mufumbwe. We however started re-organising structures after we realised that a by-election would come anytime," he said.
This is not the first time UPND is differing with alliance parties over fielding of candidates.
In June 2010, UPND and PF had a stalemate on who to field in Luena Constituency in Western Province.
This was after Charles Milupi resigned to form the Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD).
Differences between UPND and PF ensued and both parties came up with preferred candidates for the seat.
This was despite both parties signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which stated that a party would only field parliamentary candidates in areas where they were strong.
In September 2010, the UPND and PF again differed over who was supposed to field a candidate in Mpulungu Constituency during a by-election. UPND insisted on fielding a candidate in Mpulungu despite the PF being popular and having come out second to MMD in earlier elections.
The UPND and PF had similar problems in fielding candidates in by-elections in Eastern Province and before last year's general elections.
This led to calls in October by some political leaders for UPND leadership to accept a junior status in the party.
FDD president Edith Nawakwi advised the UPND to calmly accept their status as a junior partner in the PF-UPND pact.
Commenting on the popularity arguments involving the PF and UPND, Nawakwi said UPND did the same to FDD in 2006 when they asked them to accept that UPND was bigger than all the parties which were in the United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
"I hope that the UPND will accept that they are the junior partner. I hope that my colleagues in UPND calmly take the statement that they have fewer seats, they are younger because that is how we felt. I hope that they are not feeling as bad as we felt when we were being told we had 12 seats in the House and that we didn't have enough money," Nawakwi said then.
"They should take their status calmly and accept it just as they expected us to accept it because we were being told that we couldn't provide helicopters and we only had 12 seats. It is the same language which is being played on them that they played on us."
Recently, some political commentators have argued that an alliance between UPND and MMD would not work because UPND had a habit of not giving in and failing to accommodate the demands of other parties.
PF's Eric Chanda said: "The UPND claim to be in an alliance with the MMD but if you look at the local government statistics where they have fielded candidates, you will notice that the MMD and UPND have both fielded candidates in two of the local government by-elections," he said.
"This to me shows that the alliance is cosmetic and it is not going anywhere because the UPND can never be trusted in an alliance. The PF tried an alliance with them and they went against the rules of the alliance, which we formed and at the end of the day it crumbled. I want to tell the MMD that they are wasting time with the UPND."
And Sources have disclosed that the MMD are courting its North Western provincial chairman Stanford Mulusa, who lost to immediate past member of parliament Stephen Masumba in the 2011 primaries as well as a Jaimo who is a local businessman.
Sources also disclosed that some senior party officials in UPND were making attempts to hold meetings with Eliot Kamondo, the former UPND member of parliament, who was now a member of the PF, to re-contest on its ticket.
But Kamondo said his leaving UPND was on principle and he would never look back.
Kamondo said it was possible for the PF to carry the day, if a popular candidate was fielded.
He advised that politics in Mufumbwe had not so much depended on a party, but on the quality of candidates adopted at a given time.
Masumba maintained in a separate interview that he had a huge following in the area and brought on board a lot of people to the PF.
He also warned that the MMD should brace itself for mass defections to the PF, stressing that the people of North Western Province had realised that the opposition political parties had no future.
Labels: BY-ELECTIONS, EDITH NAWAKWI, ERIC CHANDA, MMD, UPND
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UPND is a regional party - Chanda
By Mwala Kalaluka
Sat 16 June 2012, 13:24 CAT
UPND is still a regional party, says former PF national youth chairman Eric Chanda. Commenting on the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ)'s publication of various political parties' participation in the forthcoming parliamentary and local government by-elections, Chanda yesterday said the display proves that UPND was still a regional party.
"To prove to the Zambian people that the PF is getting stronger than what HH Hakainde Hichilema thinks, if you look at the statistics of UPND's participation in by-elections, you will still realise that UPND is still a regional party," he said.
"In Central Province they are scared of fielding any parliamentary candidate. In Eastern Province they have not provided any candidate in the parliamentary by-election but they have provided a candidate in Southern Province."
Chanda said UPND has not filed for any local government by-elections in Luapula, Northern, Muchinga and Eastern provinces.
"They have only contested the local government by-elections in Souther, Western, North Western and Central provinces. They are even compteting against the MMD in North Western Province," Chanda said.
He said this shows that the UPND will not go anywhere in Zambia because it was a party that had failed to penetrate all areas of the country.
"The UPND claim to be in an alliance with the MMD but if you look at the local government statistics where they have fielded candidates, you will notice that the MMD and UPND have both fielded candidates in two of the local government by-elections," he said.
"This to me shows that the alliance is cosmetic and it is not going anywhere because the UPND can never be trusted in an alliance. The PF tried an alliance with them and they went against the rules of the alliance, which we formed and at the end of the day it crumbled. I want to tell the MMD that they are wasting time with the UPND."
And Chanda said Hichilema was a just a toddler in politics and he does not know how governments collapse.
"He can't accuse the PF government of collapsing if we have the police who are so committed to bring sanity, integrity and respect to the office of the President," Chnda said.
"He should realise that the police calling him to record a warn and caution statement shows that the PF government is more stronger and committed to wiping out insults on the office of the President and all well-meaning Zambians should commend the police for that."
Chanda advised Hichilema that heaping insults on the Presidency was not the way of doing politics but that politics was about bringing about developmental ideas.
Labels: ERIC CHANDA, UPND
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Sata is more popular than Hichilema - PF
By George Chellah
Tue 28 Sep. 2010, 04:00 CAT
PF national youth secretary Eric Chanda yesterday said the UPND’s claim for the Pact presidency beats common sense because Michael Sata is more popular than Hakainde Hichilema.
Reacting to UPND deputy spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa’s statement that the popularity of PF was fast eroding and that the party was only riding on past glory, Chanda said the Pact would only work if UPND stopped dreaming and woke up to reality. He said going by the UPND official’s recent arguments, it was now clear that their claim was purely based on selfishness.
“It’s very disappointing that the UPND has continued attacking PF with flimsy claims that PF has lost popularity and that we are riding on past glory. I stand to doubt UPND’s intellectualism if people like Cornelius Mweetwa who has even been to the university can reason like that. I think his political and statistical reasoning does not show his intellect,” Chanda said.
“And if what is written in the Times of Zambia is a thought of the UPND leadership, then I fear for them because they are bound to crash as a party. The fact is UPND’s claim for the Pact presidency beats common sense. Their argument does not make sense at all and it lacks sincerity. It’s purely propelled by selfishness. What facts does Mweetwa have to claim that PF has lost popularity? Who told him that we are riding on past glory?”
Chanda urged the UPND not to base their argument on presumptions.
“Mweetwa is on record as having said that Zambians promised HH votes in 2011. But what guarantee does he have that his president can win in 2011? This is where the difference is between UPND and PF. Whilst we are arguing with facts on the table, Mweetwa is coming up with presumptions, forgetting that politics is about numbers,” Chanda said.
“UPND’s achievement has never been growing. Quite true, in 2001 the late Anderson Mazoka did very well, in 2006 the UPND went into an alliance with UNIP and FDD. UPND had to lead that alliance based on the existing figures at that time, and these were statistics depicting Mr. Mazoka’s performance in 2001.
Madam Edith Nawakwi, who was more experienced both in politics and public life, had to pave way for HH who was only a few months old in mainstream politics simply because the existing figures then favoured HH and the UPND in general. However, with the backing of all these political parties, HH lost.”
Chanda said UPND could never claim that Hichilema’s performance in 2008 improved because he was trailing in a distant third position against President Rupiah Banda and Sata.
“Mweetwa should realise that it took Rupiah Banda to start searching for 35,000 votes to cross the line and be declared winner. Can Mweetwa explain to us with figures where his president was when all this was happening? Now, when you look at the 2008 statistics, who is more popular between Mr Sata and HH? Surely, is that an argument that should even arise?
I don’t believe so; one can only bring up that argument if they don’t mean well. How do you expect Mr Sata to let HH who was trailing with approximately 300,000 votes or so to lead the Pact?” Chanda asked.
“As PF youths, we are convinced that the Zambian people are carefully watching and should this Pact fail to hold, the people will surely judge which side between UPND and PF was being excessively unreasonable. We don’t understand why UPND have resolved to fight Mr Sata.
This is why we are saying that the UPND are up to no good, they want to destroy PF and destroy president Sata. They are no longer interested in the Pact. That’s why they are bringing up this unnecessary debate about popularity. But whether they antagonise Mr Sata or not, the fact is Mr Sata is the most suitable man to lead the Pact.
“In any case, why should the UPND, as claimed by Mweetwa that we are losing popularity, ask to enter into a pact with an organisation that is losing popularity? This is why my vice-president Dr Guy Scott told them that they want to build their image at PF’s expense.
It’s very disappointing to note that even when the PF has extended an olive branch for round table talks, they continue going to the media with the usual lies about our popularity. I trust the reasoning of the Zambian people, and I am fully convinced that they shall surely judge who is more popular between Mr Sata and HH.”
On Monday, Mweetwa was quoted by the Times of Zambia as having said that the PF was thriving on past glory. He said PF lacked facts on whether it had remained as strong as it was during the 2006 presidential elections.
Mweetwa was also quoted as claiming that UPND’s popularity reached the highest level and won 49 parliamentary seats during the 2001 elections, which the PF might never reach in their time.
He said the PF had continued to cheat people that they were the most popular opposition party when the highest they had garnered was 43 members of parliament.
Labels: ERIC CHANDA, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, MICHAEL SATA, PF, PF-UPND, UPND
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UPND not interested in Pact anymore – PF
By George Chellah
Sat 25 Sep. 2010, 04:02 CAT
PF national youth secretary Eric Chanda yesterday said it is outrightly clear that UPND is no longer interested in the pact and have resolved to act as spoilers in the 2011 general elections.
Reacting to UPND national youth chairperson Joe Kalusa’s statement that PF leader Michael Sata is losing wisdom everyday, Chanda said the PF youths would no longer tolerate the insults from the UPND on Sata.
“As PF youths we cannot continue stomaching the insults being hurled on our party president Mr Michael Chilufya Sata and our secretary general Mr Wynter Kabimba by the UPND. It is outrightly clear from the insults that we have received on our senior leadership from the UPND that our colleagues in the UPND are no longer interested in the pact,” Chanda said.
“They UPND want to destroy PF and then leave us at the end of the day to join the MMD or simply act as spoilers so that they lessen our chances and let the MMD carry the day. But they will not succeed because the people of Zambia are carefully watching and they know the truth. They have actually exposed themselves too early.”
He said the insults from UPND that were being poured on Sata were unjustifiable.
“The UPND have tried to hide their bad faith by referring to PF vice-president Dr Guy Scott’s one off article that appeared in The Post where he explained the realities and challenges of the pact. I have said one off because Dr Scott’s statement only appeared once,” Chanda said.
“But what has the UPND or Mr Hichilema in particular got to say about Joe Kalusa’s continuous attacks and insults on our party leadership and the president in particular? Joe Kalusa, the UPND national youth chairman in what capacity can he go to insult the PF president Mr Michael Sata that he has lost wisdom?
“The Zambian people know very well that Mr Sata has done a lot for this country. He is the man of the people and the most capable man to rule this country from 2011 and years by. What has Joe Kalusa done for this country to warrant his attacks and insults on President Sata?”
He said it was obvious that the attacks and insults on Sata were sponsored by other people.
“We know that Kalusa, Mazabuka UPND member of parliament Gary Nkombo and Siavonga UPND member of parliament Douglas Syakalima have been planted by the UPND president himself Mr Hakainde Hichilema to destroy the reputation of president Michael Sata and Wynter Kabimba and to destroy the reputation of the entire PF. But they are bound to fail because PF is a mass driven political party. Our strength lies in the people themselves,” said Chanda.
“Anyone can see that UPND does not mean well to the pact. What UPND could have done if they were genuinely aggrieved or had any issues was to call for round table dialogue. But they have gone to the media in an attempt to destroy us. This we cannot accept as PF youths and we are saying if they are not ready to dialogue let them come out in the open because their real intentions are already known.”
On Friday, Syakalima, who is also Hichilema’s senior adviser, was quoted in the Times of Zambia as having accused Sata and Kabimba of not believing in the spirit of the pact.
“By saying that UPND should accept that PF has more MPs than the UPND and the issue of presidency only means that they don’t believe in the pact,” he said.
Syakalima said the claim by the PF that it had more members of parliament was wrong.
He said PF was no longer strong because most of its member of parliament voted with the MMD.
He wondered why the PF could not accept reality that they had been losing to the MMD in Luapula Province.
Syakalima also said PF could no longer bank on its past glory because the “political pendulum is emotional and unpredictable.”
And Nkombo was quoted in the same publication as having maintained that Kabimba was an enemy of the pact and the Zambian people would blame him for breaking the alliance.
The Times of Zambia also quoted Kalusa stating that Sata had lost wisdom despite having served in government for a long time.
“As an old man, we expected Mr Sata to provide wisdom in the pact, but he has failed. If anything his statements in the media are showing that he is losing wisdom every day,” Kalusa said.
Copperbelt UPND chairperson Elisha Matambo told The Post that his party could survive without PF.
Labels: ERIC CHANDA, JOE KALUSA, PF, UPND
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PF youth urges KCM to reinstate fired miners
By Zumani Katasefa in Kitwe
Thu 03 Dec. 2009, 04:00 CAT
PATRIOTIC Front national youth secretary Eric Chanda has urged Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) to reinstate without any conditions all miners who have been fired for allegedly taking part in a riot last month.
In a statement yesterday, Chanda also challenged Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) and the ministries of Labour and Mines to seek the reinstatement of the fired KCM miners.
Chanda advised KCM management that Zambian miners had a right to freedom of expression whenever they were not happy with their conditions of service.
He said firing in excess of 40 workers now was unjustified, illegal and uncalled for.
“We demand immediate reinstatement of all the fired miners without any conditions,” Chanda stated.
He stated that it was regrettable that mine unions were collecting monthly contributions from miners without giving them proper representation and job protection.
Chanda stated that it was also regrettable that the government was offering incentives to investors without providing job security for Zambian employees.
KCM has so far dismissed over 40 miners for allegedly taking part in riots at the mine last month.
Labels: ERIC CHANDA, KCM, MINERS, PF-UPND
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