MMD Bulaya councillor resigns to join UPND
By Mwila Chansa in Kitwe
Wed 03 Mar. 2010, 03:20 CAT
MMD Bulaya Ward councillor Mwansa Kunda has resigned from the ruling party to join the UPND. In an interview after his release on bail from Kamfinsa State Prison where he was remanded for two weeks, Kunda advised Lufwanyama member of parliament Dr Lwipa Puma to
learn to appreciate those that put him where he is.
Kunda was remanded after
the immigration department arrested him on grounds that he was a Congolese national who stayed in Zambia illegally.
He recently appeared in the Kitwe magistrates’ court and pleaded not guilty to one count of unlawful stay in Zambia contrary to section 23 (3) of the immigration and deportation Act Cap 123 of the Laws of Zambia as read with section 30(1) of Act number 25 of 1997.
Kunda was granted a K2 million cash bail with two working sureties but bail conditions were only met yesterday.
“I can’t say much. I campaigned very hard for Dr Puma and I don’t deserve to be treated in this manner… I can’t say much. I have resigned from MMD and joined UPND. Even my family can’t allow me to continue being in MMD,” he said.
“You can’t take someone to prison. Taking someone to prison is as good as killing him.”
Kunda declared that he would re-contest the Bulaya ward seat on the UPND ticket and rated his chances of scooping it as high.
He said MMD’s chances of retaining the ward were very slim adding that: “If a crocodile tells you that the hippo is sick, you’ve got to believe it because the crocodile lives in water together with the hippo.”
He complained that his stay in prison was not easy especially that he left his family suffering.
“Kwali ukusampa ifyakulya nokusumwa ne nda (We were scrambling for food and being bitten by lice – in Kamfinsa prison),” Kunda added.
He said no MMD member visited him for the period he was in prison.
He charged that Dr Puma was not a good leader because he always kept grudges.
Kunda said whenever Dr Puma was advised about something during council meetings, he always took it personal.
Meanwhile, Kunda urged other politicians to be brave and brace themselves for political persecutions.
And Kunda’s wife, Mirriam, supported her husband.
And UPND Lufwanyama District chairman Justin Mwalikwa welcomed Mwansa’s resignation from MMD and pledged to support him.
Labels: LWIPI PUMA, MMD, MWANSA KUNDA, POLITICS, UPND, XENOPHOBIA
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Lufwanyama MMD quizzes official for attending pact meeting
By Mwila Chansa in Kitwe
Fri 12 Feb. 2010, 03:57 CAT
THE MMD in Lufwanyama has given its information and publicity secretary a seven-day ultimatum to exculpate himself for attending a UPND-PF pact meeting or face a six-month suspension.
In an interview on Tuesday, MMD Lufwanyama district chairman Moses Chiyuka accused Mwansa Kunda, the MMD Bulaya ward councillor, of leaking party information when he attended a UPND-PF pact meeting in Lufwanyama on January 31. Asked if it was wrong for Kunda to interact with other Zambians from the opposition, Chiyuka said it was not wrong to interact at a personal level.
“But if one is leaking party information to the opposition, then that is wrong. It simply means that he is not with us,” said Chiyuka.
Chiyuka insisted that it was unacceptable for Kunda to have attended the opposition’s meeting.
“We have not expelled him but if he fails to exculpate himself within seven days, he will have to be suspended for six months. This is just a first step in the disciplinary process. He is a very hard working person and he is still our member if he does not defect,” he added.
Asked if he thought that Kunda’s decision to attend the UPND-PF pact meeting meant that he had lost confidence in MMD, Chiyuka said actions spoke louder than words.
And in a statement, Chiyuka restrained Kunda from performing all party and civic duties in accordance with article 50(5) of the MMD constitution.
“Mr Kunda committed the following offences; being in the company of some district and constituency officials organising and holding a closed door meeting with opposition UPND-PF pact Copperbelt provincial leadership on 31st January 2010; attending opposition PF-UPND pact public meeting held at Makoloi on the same date and divulging of party secrets and confidential information to unauthorised people or outsiders,” stated Chiyuka.
But Kunda yesterday explained that he merely followed his wife who had defected to the UPND and ended up attending the pact meeting to witness what was happening there.
Kunda said he did not go against any party rules and denied ever influencing anyone to defect to the opposition.
He accused MMD Lufwanyama member of parliament Dr Lwipa Puma of instigating his suspension because he recently vowed to finish him Kunda off.
Some MMD councillors in Lufwanyama recently threatened to suspend Dr Puma for allegedly saying that they councillors were illiterates.
But Kunda said the person who made that statement to the media was well-known and wondered why Dr Puma was targeting him.
He expressed disappointment with Dr Puma for allegedly threatening his life, saying he was supposed to learn how to dialogue with people as a man of high calibre.
Kunda said he was not mad to accuse Dr Puma of threatening his life if he did not do so adding that he even reported the matter to police who advised him to be calm.
Kunda said he personally campaigned for Dr Puma with his own resources during the last elections and he had no grudge against him.
Dr Puma denied ever threatening Mwansa saying he phoned him merely to ask why he was causing confusion in the MMD in Lufwanyama.
“I have information that Mwansa was causing confusion in the party, he has been working with the opposition. He is even the one behind that story that I called the councillors in Lufwanyama that they were illiterate, he just concocted the story,” charged Dr Puma. “Mwansa is treading on a dangerous path, we are aware that he is a Congolese and his name is not Mwansa.”
Labels: MMD, MOSES CHIYUKA, MWANSA KUNDA, PF-UPND
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