West MMD power struggles deepen
By Chibaula Silwamba
Tue 09 Nov. 2010, 04:01 CAT
MMD power-struggles have deepened in Western Province between supporters of incumbent provincial chairperson Simasiku Namakando and agriculture deputy minister Joseph Mulyata.
And MMD provincial secretary Sikwibele Mwapela, who is also Western Province minister, warned that members forming parallel structures in the party will be disciplined.
Meanwhile, Mulyata, who confirmed his plans to vie for the position of MMD provincial chairperson against Namakando, admitted there were just internal differences.
MMD insiders in the province confirmed that the power struggle had worsened and that there were two camps in the province – one supporting Mulyata while the other backs Namakando.
But when contacted, Mulyata said: “these power-struggles are in-house, you people.”
Mulyata said he would give a comprehensive comment later because at the moment the issues were being addressed internally in the MMD.
“You publish your information and when I see it that is when I will tell you my position,” said Mulyata amidst laughter when reminded of Namakando’s candidacy for the provincial portfolio.
Nakamando’s phones were not reachable as he was said to be at his farm in rural Western Province.
And Mwapela said the provincial elections would go ahead as planned between December 3 and 5, 2010.
“These wrangles which are there are not even real; we don’t even count them to be wrangles,” he said. “And we can’t hold other elections for Mongu district. Elections were already held in Mongu. If someone wants to form parallel structures in the party, then the party will discipline them. There is only one district executive in Mongu, which is led by Mr Mukubesa. That is the only one that we know; the rest are illegal.”
He said the provincial leadership was waiting for the MMD acting national secretary Chembe Nyangu to give a go-ahead to them to hold the provincial polls.
“MMD members are ready to go for that election and they are free to vote for their preferred candidate. No one will force them to vote for anyone. No! That is why we are multiparty democracy,” Mwapela said.
He said the people causing confusion were not even part of the electoral college.
“So how are they going to vote against? Why should they bring divisions that this one is for Mulyata and this one is for Namakando? As far as I am concerned as provincial minister and provincial secretary of the party, they are all our people. There are no divisions and we won’t allow divisions,” said Mwapela. “Even Mulyata is free to stand if he wants to stand. Anyone who wants to participate should be allowed to participate. We won’t allow any camp.”
Labels: JOSEPH MULYATA, MMD, SIMASIKU NAMAKANDO, WESTERN PROVINCE
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By-elections: Mulyata manhandles Namakando over rations
By Mwala Kalaluka in Luena
Mon 12 July 2010, 13:20 CAT
THE MMD’s campaign in the Luena by-election started on a violent and shaky note after Mongu Central parliamentarian Joseph Mulyata manhandled provincial party chairman Simasiku Namakando over food rations.
And MMD provincial youth chairman Njamba Musangu has claimed that Charles Milupi is a desperate liar who has now realized the mistake he made to cause a by-election in Luena.
Highly placed MMD sources told The Post in Mongu that the incident that could have a negative effect on the ruling party’s campaigns in Luena happened last Wednesday morning at provincial minister Richard Mwapela’s residence.
“MMD Mongu District chairman and deputy defence minister Joseph Mulyata on Wednesday morning 7th July 2010 insulted and used unpalatable language and violently abused MMD provincial chairman Simasiku Namakando in full view of hundreds of MMD cadres and the public at the residence of provincial minister Richard Mwapela. It took about 30 minutes for Mwapela to restrain Mulyata from causing damage on Namakando who was visibly sick,” the source said.
The sources said Namakando was unshaken and unmoved in the face of such a serious challenge from Mulyata.
The sources said Mulyata was incensed by reports that MMD district officials, which he heads planned to boycott the campaigns because they were not given ration money, as they went in the field for campaigns.
“This made him vent his anger on provincial chairman Simasiku Namakando,” the source said.
“Reports indicate that Mulyata accuses Namakando of failing to recommend him to NEC as campaign manager for Luena by-election. Visibly unhappy with the incident were the campaign manager Professor Geoffrey Lungwangwa and his vice Mwapela and other party officials who felt that if Mulyata had a grievance he should have handled himself in an official manner befitting a minister of government.”
The sources said during the fracas Mulyata told Namakando that he would challenge him at the provincial party conference for the position of provincial MMD chairman.
“After leaving Namakando, Mulyata turned on Namakando’s driver only identified as Mwangala with a view of beating him,” the source said. “The incident, which shocked the public and unbefitting of a member of parliament, minister and district party leader took place as MMD party cadres and officials were being dispatched to Ushaa, the nomination centre for the Luena parliamentary by-election. The incident is likely to cast a negative shadow on MMD’s campaigns and success in Luena by-elections.”
The sources said the party membership in Mongu was shocked with Mulyata’s conduct and he had since been asked not to be part of the campaign team in Luena.
“It was Namakando who handpicked Mulyata to be MMD Mongu District chairman when Mulyata had lost constituency elections, district elections and provincial party elections in 2005,” the source said. “Namakando even picked him to contest the 2006 parliamentary elections when he was rejected by the lower organs of the party.”
The sources said Mulyata’s conduct was likely to be discussed by the provincial MMD executive after the Luena by-elections.
“However, permission will be sought from the party president Rupiah Banda before Mulyata is charged with misconduct against a senior party officer Namakando and bringing the image of the party into disrepute,” the source said.
Efforts to get Mulyata proved futile.
And reacting to Milupi’s assertions that the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) was tolerating the MMD’s usage of schools for their campaign in Luena, Musangu said Milupi had just realized that he was losing the by-election.
Musangu said Milupi’s accusations were not true because the MMD only used schools when community development minister Michael Kaingu went around the constituency disbursing women empowerment cheques to ‘women’ during metings.
“That was a government programme,” Musangu said. “Milupi is now becoming desperate because he has realized that he is losing.”
Musangu said the people of Luena would vote for the MMD because they were tired of lack of development.
On Milupi’s assertions that MMD candidate Mwangala Maopu had been meeting teachers and head teachers from Luena with a view to influencing them to vote for the MMD, Musangu said Maopu could only do that, if at all it were true, when he was still District Education Board Secretary (DEBS) for Mongu.
“At that time he was not yet a politician,” said Musangu.
Maopu opted to go on early retirement to contest the Luena by-election on the MMD ticket.
Labels: BY-ELECTIONS, FOOD, JOSEPH MULYATA, SIMASIKU NAMAKANDO
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MMD should be honest over vice-presidency – Namakando
By Mwala Kalaluka
Wed 17 Feb. 2010, 04:02 CAT
Namakando bragged that at the moment, MMD was more popular in Western Province than any other part of the country. WESTERN Province MMD chairman Simasiku Namakando yesterday demanded that the ruling party top leadership should be honest with the people of Barotseland on the issue of the Republican vice-presidency.
Commenting on revelations that President Rupiah Banda has pledged to appoint a vice-president from Luapula Province if the people there delivered the area to the MMD in 2011, Namakando said the story made very interesting reading.
Namakando said a president had a right to appoint any person to be his vice-president if he felt he could work with that person better.
“If it is true that he promised the people of Luapula that if they delivered the province to the MMD in 2011, he is going to appoint Chriticles Mwansa as vice-president, it is a very good story. It makes very interesting reading,”
Namakando said in an interview from Mongu. “But are the people of Luapula going to deliver because we (Western Province) are not saying we shall deliver. We are saying that we delivered and we shall continue to deliver. So the President will see who can deliver fast. Who are honest to him, whether it is Luapula or Western?”
Namakando bragged that at the moment, MMD was more popular in Western Province than any other part of the country. He said while he was not entirely doubting the capacity of the people of Luapula to deliver for the MMD, it was a fact that they had failed to deliver in the past elections.
“All these elections they failed to deliver. They are now saying 'we shall deliver'. Are they going to deliver because the opposition is very strong in that area?” Namakando asked.
He said when people work hard, the leadership should also reciprocate such efforts.
“That we should also reward these people because Western Province has been honest with our leaders. We just deliver on our own without them promising us anything,” Namakando said. “Nobody promised us anything and with or without being promised anything we shall be honest with the leadership and they must also be honest with us. This time they must see that Western Province delivers all the time without promising us anything. All the eight provinces have produced vice-presidents except Western Province.”
Namakando said there were highly educated men and women in the province who could be appointed vice-presidents.
“Let them try Western Province also and see what we can do,” he said.
Namakando said the MMD in the province was still keen on fielding a person who hails from the area as a candidate for the party vice-presidency during the convention.
Labels: MMD, SIMASIKU NAMAKANDO, VICE PRESIDENCY
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It seems Kaande is more powerful than Rupiah, says Namakando
By Patson Chilemba
Sat 26 Dec. 2009, 04:01 CAT
SIMASIKU Namakando has challenged President Rupiah Banda to state whether or not he is behind Jeff Kaande’s disparaging remarks on the dissolved Western Province MMD executive.
Reacting to MMD deputy national secretary Kaande’s statement that the chairperson for the dissolved committee Simasiku Namakando and his executive were no longer MMD members because they took the party to court, Namakando wondered why President Banda had kept quiet over the matter. He said it seemed that Kaande was more powerful than President Banda.
“The President is allowing this person to continue undermining his authority.
If the President came and told the people of Western Province that he has reconciled with his provincial chairman, who is Jeff Kaande to overrule the President? Now the question is the President is keeping quiet. What is his official authority position? Are we members of the MMD or not, like what Kaande has said?” Namakando asked.
“We thought when we reconciled with the President, the President knew that yes, we went to the courts of law, but he called me and my friends to meet him and I even went with him to Liuwa as his provincial chairman. Now who is Jeff Kaande to overrule the President? This is the problem that we are having in the MMD.”
Namakando said Kaande recently told the people of Western Province, during his recent trip to the area that he did not recognise President Banda’s reconciliation with the Namakando-led executive.
“So for Kaande to continue talking the way he is talking, we don’t know whether it is the official position coming from His Excellency or it is his Kaande’s way of running the party. I think only the President knows what the official position is, so he has to come out and tell us,” he said.
Namakando said only President Banda could show the way forward over the reconciliation.
He said he was surprised over the manner things were being run because the national secretary had no power to overrule the President.
Namakando said his committee thought that the reconciliation with President Banda was the official position of the party.
“Let me give you an example; when the late president Mwanawasa suspended the national chairman, Honourable Michael Mabenga, it was himself again who reconciled with him, and the national secretary never challenged him anywhere. But in this case, Jeff Kaande is challenging the authority of the President,” said Namakando.
“In the Western Province he said he doesn’t recognize what President Banda did because he was not part and parcel of that meeting. So we don’t know why things have changed now, we don’t know whether what Kaande is saying is the official position from the President or he is undermining him. Only the President can tell us.”
Namakando said he expected President Banda to state his position over the matter and to tell Kaande that he was undermining his authority in the party.
Recently, Kaande said Namakando and his committee were no longer MMD members because they took the party to court.
Kaande said they should reapply to rejoin the party.
Labels: JEFF KAANDE, RUPIAH BANDA, SIMASIKU NAMAKANDO
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Rupiah was elected to prove his own capabilities, says Kaande
By Patson Chilemba
Sat 19 Dec. 2009, 04:01 CAT
MMD deputy national secretary Jeff Kaande yesterday said President Rupiah Banda was elected to prove his own capabilities and not those of other people.
And Kaande said chairperson of the dissolved Western Province MMD executive committee Simasiku Namakando is not a member of the MMD, pouring further scorn on the recent reconciliation between President Banda and the executive committee.
In an interview following former gender minister Patricia Mulasikwanda's remarks that President Banda should stop talking about late president Mwanawasa's legacy because he had failed to uphold it, Kaande said President Banda was elected to serve the country through the best of his ability.
“Once you are elected as President, you are elected, it is up to you to prove to people your capabilities; not another person's capabilities,” he said.
Asked if he implied that President Banda would rather come up with his own vision than following that of president Mwanawasa, Kaande responded: “I'm not saying that, I am not saying that. That is not what I am saying. Don't put words in my mouth.”
But when pressed further to clarify what he had said, Kaande responded: “You analyze it, what do I mean? Because I put a vote for President Banda, I did not put a vote for anybody else. If you voted for President Banda, you voted for President Banda on principle because you wanted him to be President. I was not voting for two people, I was voting for one person. I don't care what the other people say, whether they want him to follow other people's beliefs that is another thing. But I voted for President Banda to be President, and to lead this country through the best of his ability.”
When asked why President Banda campaigned using president Mwanawasa's legacy, Kaande responded: “You interview the President, don't interview me on that please. I am not his spokesperson.”
Kaande asked Mulasikwanda to resign from the MMD and go back to UNIP if she was not satisfied with the manner the party was handling its affairs.
On Friday, Mulasikwanda said President Banda had failed to uphold president Mwanwasa's legacy because people who the late president trusted like Sylvia Masebo and Ng'andu Magande, whom she described as icons, could not have been fired.
She asked President Banda to allow himself to be challenged fairly at the convention.
On Namakando's assertions that President Banda risked losing at the convention if he continued surrounding himself with people like Kaande, Kaande said President Banda would win whether Namakando liked it or not.
He said Namakando was not a member of MMD.
“He took us to court, and our regulations are very clear. If you take the party to court, then you are not a member of that party. You declare yourself an outsider, therefore you have to reapply to rejoin, so I have not yet seen his application,” Kaande said.
Asked if the recent reconciliation involving President Banda and the Western Province committee meant nothing going by his statement, Kaande refused to comment.
“I am not President Banda, excuse me. Don't draw me into that,” he said.
On Mulasikwanda's assertion that President Banda should allow himself to be challenged fairly at the convention rather than using underhand methods in the selection of delegates, Kaande wondered how this could be done since the party had not even held provincial conferences.
He accused The Post of being destructive, saying the newspaper's aim was to destroy the MMD.
“Why are you The Post concerned with the MMD convention when you cannot talk about the PF convention; who are you bedfellows?” Kaande asked.
He said he rated the performance of the state owned and government controlled media better than The Post.
“You never even assign special journalists to follow me wherever I go, but for PF you do,” said an angry Kaande.
Labels: JEFF KAANDE, RUPIAH BANDA, SIMASIKU NAMAKANDO
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Banda risks losing at convention – Namakando
By Patson Chilemba
Mon 14 Dec. 2009, 04:01 CAT
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda will lose at the MMD national convention if he continues surrounding himself with people like Jeff Kaande, chairperson of the dissolved Western Province executive committee Simasiku Namakando observed yesterday.
In an interview, Namakando said President Banda was working with people who were not dependable and were undermining him. He said former South African president Thabo Mbeki lost to President Jacob Zuma at the ANC convention because he worked with people that were undermining him.
Namakando said his executive committee was supposed to be reinstated following the recent reconciliation with President Banda but acting party national secretary Kaande decided otherwise and even organised elections for the interim committee in the province.
“So if President Banda is not very, very careful, if he is not reorganizing his secretariat, these people will cause damage to his presidency,” he said.
Asked if these people’s activities could cost President Banda an election at the convention, Namakando responded: “Yes, he should be very, very careful with these people. You see, you know when late president Levy Mwanawasa went there MMD convention, two-thirds of the NEC officials never voted for him, only the provincial chairmen voted for him. We know the activities, which were going on at the secretariat.
“Now if the President is depending on people who are undermining him, it will be a terrible thing which will happen there, some people pretend to work with the President and yet when they remain alone they undermine him. Such people are not good. They must tell the President the truth. When he is wrong, let them tell him he is wrong.”
Namakando insisted that some decisions were not being implemented in the party because people at the secretariat were undermining the President.
Asked to mention those who were undermining the President, Namakando responded: “You know the person running the secretariat now is MMD deputy national secretary Jeff Kaande. The President said, you know, a reconciliation means going back to the status quo isn’t it? We were supposed to be reinstated. When he came here, Jeff Kaande made some elections in Kalabo where he only allowed one constituency to elect a district chairman.”
Asked if those at the secretariat including Kaande were undermining the President, Namakando responded: “Obviously, obviously, the person who is running the secretariat is Jeff Kaande. He is undermining the President himself because the President should be in control.”
Namakando said the MMD was under threat because some people were undermining President Banda. Namakando doubted whether or not such people could organise a well meaning party convention.
Labels: MMD, NEC, RUPIAH BANDA, SIMASIKU NAMAKANDO
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Aka is using State House to fight Litunga – Namakando
By George Chellah
Thu 19 Nov. 2009, 04:01 CAT
INSULTING the Litunga and the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE) will make the MMD even more unpopular in Western Province, chairman of the dissolved MMD Western province executive committee Simasiku Namakando warned yesterday.
Commenting on the resolution by the recent MMD caucus, which blamed him and the Litunga for the ruling party’s recent fall-out in the province, Namakando accused President Rupiah Banda’s political advisor Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika of misleading the President on what was happening in the MMD.
“Akashambatwa is using State House to fight the people of Western Province and to fight the Litunga. The Litunga is not involved in politics. In our tradition the Litunga does not campaign, the Litunga does not talk about politics. So involving him in what is happening in the MMD is an insult to the people of Western province. We know that Akashambatwa has been fighting the Litunga from the beginning,” Namakando said. “He wanted to become the Litunga. When he was rejected by the people he kept on fighting the Litunga and fighting the people of Western Province. He should not involve the Litunga. The dissolution of the MMD provincial executive committee in Western Province does not involve the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE). This was a careless move, which was done by some leaders in the MMD.”
Namakando said the people of Western province would not take it kindly for those that were insulting the Litunga and the BRE.
“They are aggravating the situation and making the party even more unpopular. You don’t insult the Litunga and his Kuta. I don’t think there is a politician from Western Province who will support Akashambatwa to attack the Litunga. The President must protect MMD by not allowing disgruntled people like Akashambatwa to destroy the MMD,” he said.
Namakando appealed to Akashambatwa to respect the Litunga.
“Let him not use State House to fight his own Litunga. When the President came for Kuomboka, he didn’t go to Lealui first. He went to see Akashambatwa’s mother first then in the afternoon that’s when he went to Limulunga and yet he was the Litunga’s guest, that’s an insult!
Akashambatwa will make the President unpopular,” Namakando said. “Insulting the Litunga is worsening the situation. Let them talk about Namakando because Namakando is a politician and he will answer back. As a man from Western Province, I will make sure that we fight for the province and protect the BRE. Anybody who involves the Litunga, we will not take that lightly. We will fight him.”
Namakando said blaming the Litunga was total indiscipline for a man who hailed from Western Province.
“If they are failing to develop Western Province, let them not blame anybody. We want development in Western Province. We want our roads tarred and we want the Mongu-Kalabo road done, the bridges here they must find money. We want the Senanga-Sesheke Road done and we want the Shang’ombo Road tarred, that is our argument,” Namakando said.
“When we talk about development we are not fighting the MMD. Akashambatwa is weakening the MMD. He is using State House to weaken the party because he was not given the position, which he wanted of vice-president. If the President is not careful the party will be weakened before he runs away.
The people of Western Province will fight for what is right. There is not even a single project which they are working on now, all these projects where left by the late Mwanawasa…Most of the people in the NEC are in Lusaka but they have failed to organise the party in Lusaka… Sata is running Lusaka and the Copperbelt.
Now Akashambatwa wants to destroy the MMD in Western Province,” Namakando said. “I will keep calling for the convention. He said something about the convention in Solwezi but we want the President to set the dates. I am happy that some of the people who attended this workshop told them that if we don’t go for a convention our party will be unpopular.”
Labels: AKASHAMBATWA MBIKUSITA-LEWANIKA, LITUNGA, MMD, SIMASIKU NAMAKANDO
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Consult Litunga over Saki, Namakando advises Rupiah
Written by George Chellah
Monday, October 19, 2009 7:05:11 AM
CHAIRMAN of the dissolved Western Province MMD executive committee Simasiku Namakando yesterday advised President Rupiah Banda to consult the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE) especially the Litunga over his intentions to appoint Sakwiba Sikota as Republican vice-president.
Reacting to President Banda's consideration to replace Vice-President George Kunda with United Liberal Party (ULP) president Sikota with a view to regaining political support in Western Province, Namakando urged President Banda to consult the Litunga - the paramount chief of the Lozi people of Western Province - before making a decision.
“We believe in democracy, when you do a thing because there is heat somewhere, you can sometimes make a lot of mistakes. People of Western Province have been advocating that we need somebody from here. The people of Western Province should be given a choice of their own leadership,” Namakando said.
“But if Mr Rupiah Banda is now considering, if he is now agreeing with us that time has come for him to appoint a Lozi, with consultation with the BRE let him come to the BRE and consult them.”
He urged President Banda to consult ruling party officials in the province as well.
“Yes, because his [initial] position was that the choice he made was the right choice, even in that letter he wrote to me said the choice he made of vice-president was the best. We have been saying we need a Lozi as vice-president now because we have been supporting our friends for over 45 years,” Namakando said.
“Please, we must also be recognised as leaders that people from Western Province can also be vice-presidents. They have to come to Western Province and consult the Litunga as chief here, then consult the political leadership.”
He warned that without consultations, President Banda risked making the same mistake late president Levy Mwanawasa made on Zambia's High Commissioner to Canada Pastor Nevers Mumba.
“You know the problem that we are having is that of imposing opposition leaders to the ruling party to become vice-president. The late president Mwanawasa, may his soul rest in peace, found problems because in the first place, he brought Reverend Nevers Mumba from the opposition. He [Mumba] gave him lots of problems,” Namakando explained. “Secondly, the MMD now have got a problem because they brought Mr Rupiah Banda from UNIP. The man who never even resigned from UNIP to bring him to MMD. For him to know what MMD stands for it becomes very very difficult.
“So we are saying let him consult with the local people especially the traditional leaders, our parents the BRE, the Litunga and his Kuta. Let him go to Mwandi, let him come to the Litunga, then the Litunga will call his people.”
He wondered whether the appointment of Sikota as vice-president would yield its intended results.
“Sakwiba Sikota is ULP, Sakwiba Sikota is not MMD. So I don't know whether that can work to his [President Banda's] interest, whatever he is thinking. Our stance is that let him come and consult the BRE because MMD, whether he is getting one or not we are saying we must go for the convention so that people have their choice,” Namakando said. “That of appointing somebody that's the prerogative of the President. Let him appoint somebody but he must first of all consult the BRE because without consulting, he might make blunders, which the late president made when he appointed Nevers Mumba who gave him problems.”
Namakando emphasised that he had nothing against Sikota.
“I have never had problems with Sakwiba Sikota. Personally, I have nothing against him. Appointing somebody as vice-president that is another issue, going for the convention that is also another issue, democracy must prevail in the MMD,” said Namakando. “We have nothing against Sakwiba Sikota, he [President Banda] must consult the party. He must consult the BRE there is nothing wrong in consulting. Let him come to Western Province and consult.”
President Banda is considering replacing Vice-President Kunda with Sikota with a view to regaining support in Western Province, where there is a fall-out within the ruling party's ranks.
Labels: LITUNGA, RUPIAH BANDA, SAKWIBA SIKOTA, SIMASIKU NAMAKANDO, ULP, WESTERN PROVINCE
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Rupiah is losing it in W/Province
Written by Mwala Kalaluka
Sunday, October 11, 2009 4:07:04 AM
CHAIRMAN for the dissolved Western Province MMD executive committee Simasiku Namakando yesterday said President Rupiah Banda has failed to manage the party and is fast becoming unpopular.
Reacting to the decision by MMD secretariat to appoint an interim provincial executive committee in place of the dissolved one, Namakando said President Banda was becoming unpopular because of the decisions that he was allowing MMD national secretary Katele Kalumba and his friends to make.
“Because President Banda was UNIP he must know that in the MMD we follow the constitution. We do not follow shortcuts,” Namakando said. “President Banda is an acting president of the MMD; please put this in capital letters. He is not yet endorsed. When you act you can either make it or fail.”
Namakando said from the way President Banda was running the MMD, it was clear that he was failing to manage the party. He accused the MMD national leadership of trying to create anarchy in the country owing to their undemocratic attitudes.
Namakando said only four MMD provincial leaders had been ‘reshuffled’ from the dissolved executive committee. He said there was no way that an executive committee, which was elected by a provincial conference, could be reshuffled. Namakando maintained that he was still the provincial MMD chairman.
“I was elected as provincial chairman for the Western Province by the provincial conference. The only people who can reshuffle us is when we have a provincial conference,” he said. “These people are in disarray. Dr Katele Kalumba and his friends are in disarray. The MMD secretariat is totally disorganised…That is why we are saying we want to go to the convention to elect credible leaders.”
And Namakando accused President Banda of being ungrateful to the people of Western Province who voted for him in the 2008 election.
“I liken President Banda to an Indian emperor Shahjahan…who when his wife, Mumtaz, died after the birth of his 14th child became sick and died, emperor Shahjahan called the most experienced architectures to build what is now known in India as the Taj Mahal; one of the Seven Wonders of the World,” Namakando said, adding that after the builders completed the Taj Mahal, the emperor decided to cut-off their hands so that they could never build such a structure anywhere again.
“This is what President Banda is doing. I made him win as provincial chairman for the MMD in Western Province,” Namakando said. “Mr. Banda is now in State House and after winning his reaction was that, ‘I did not solicit for the vote of the people of Western Province’. He wrote a letter to me, who campaigned for him. I was the campaign manager for Western Province. I do not know whether Mr. Banda is being ungrateful to the people of Western Province or not.”
Namakando further compared President Banda to one of two men that went to the bush in search of honey and when they found it, one man climbed the tree and started eating the honey alone, saying where he came from they did not eat honey while looking down.
Namakando said it was not until the man on the ground set the tree on fire that his friend atop the tree started crying for help.
“This is what is happening. They are enjoying. If they are forgetting Western Province, we will say thank you and we will put a lot of heat and fire to the tree,” Namakando said. “If we are not going to the convention, we will not agree…Western Province is intact and the people are with me. They are very disappointed that this is what they have done to me. Remember, I am a politician and I will appeal to the people of Western Province to come to my rescue.”
Namakando said the people of Western Province assured him when he featured on a phone-in programme on a local radio station in Mongu, that they would not abandon him.
Labels: RUPIAH BANDA, SIMASIKU NAMAKANDO, WESTERN PROVINCE
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W/Province MMD committee still intact, says Namakando
Written by Mwala Kalaluka
Wednesday, October 07, 2009 7:30:29 AM
SIMASIKU Namakando has maintained that he is still the provincial chairman of the MMD in Western Province because the party national secretary Katele Kalumba had no constitutional powers to dissolve any committee.
Reacting to Kalumba’s decision to dissolve the entire Western MMD provincial executive committee following its position that the national convention should not be deferred, Namakando said in an interview from Lukulu that the provincial committee was still intact.
Namakando said he was still a member of the MMD and that nobody would chase him and his committee from the party because they had committed no offence.
He said those MMD members that wanted to follow UNIP principles should form their own party, which would be devoid of principles and constitutionalism.
“I will make a comprehensive statement later with the entire executive committee organs in the province, but for now I am still a member of the MMD,” Namakando said. “Article nine talks of the rights of a member and it reads as follows, ‘rights and obligations of a member. A member of the party has a right to (a) demand the fulfillment of what is enshrined in the constitution, resolution, directive and obligation of the party, (b) to participate in fora and meetings of the party organs and to freely discuss in the policies and activities of the party, (c) to put forward proposition and defend his opinion before agreement is reached on any matter under discussion.’”
Namakando said the above articles gave him the powers to demand anything from the National Executive Committee because he was an MMD member.
“I will continue to ask that we go to the MMD convention…because we have two members in the MMD. We have got the true and progressive MMD members and the UNIP group of the MMD who don’t want to hear anything from the constitution. These are the people who are saying we do not have to go to the convention, because to them a convention is taboo. They know they will lose their positions,” an emotive Namakando said. “Those people who are shouting around are the people who joined yesterday from UNIP. The National Chairman (Michael Mabenga) is the one who introduced this debate of the convention. It is the National Chairman, Mr Mabenga, who was forcing members to sign these things because he has an agenda to protect and to get favours from President Banda.”
Namakando said even Kalumba had his own share of problems.
“Even himself he does not believe in the action he was doing yesterday. He did that to buy his freedom from Mr Banda because of his many problems,” he said. “Because even the article he has quoted does not warrant him to dissolve any committee. Where did he get the power from, because one, we have never committed any offence against the party or against anybody but we have the right to demand anything enshrined in the constitution?”
Namakando described the action to dissolve his committee as a UNIP way of solving issues.
Labels: MMD, SIMASIKU NAMAKANDO, WESTERN PROVINCE
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Namakando complains over quantity of relief food
Written by Mwala Kalaluka
Thursday, January 29, 2009 9:43:30 AM
WESTERN Province MMD chairperson Simasiku Namakando yesterday complained that the quantity of food that has been sent to hunger-stricken communities in the province is a mockery.
Namakando said in an interview from Lukulu West that any delay by the government to address the severe hunger situation in the Western Province would lead to loss of life. "If we do not act now, we might lose lives," Namakando said.
"The Office of the Vice-President sent some maize but it was not enough. For example, in an area which has 15,000 people they have only sent 70 bags and you can imagine that."
He said the people were now wondering why the government was not sending sufficient food to the area when they had done all they could to enable President Rupiah Banda emerge victorious in last year's presidential election.
"There is a critical problem of hunger here and the people are asking why they should be starved when they voted for this government?" he said. "The Vice-President should visit Western Province to see himself. There is no food in the fields and in the granaries because people lost their crops due to floods."
Namakando suggested that the government should, in the interim, disburse about 10,000 bags of maize to each of the 17 constituencies in the province if the problem is to be ameliorated.
Namakando said the districts that had been severely hit by hunger are Lukulu, Shang'ombo and Kalabo.
Labels: FOOD, MMD, SIMASIKU NAMAKANDO
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Teta nominates MMD officials as water utilities board members
Written by Chibaula Silwamba and Kelvin Tembo
Friday, January 23, 2009 7:04:38 AM
LOCAL government minister Benny Tetamashimba has nominated MMD provincial chairpersons for Western and Central provinces Simasiku Namakando and Boyd Mutonka as board chairperson and board member of Western Water and Sewerage Company and Lukanga Water and Sewerage Company respectively.
But Zambia Water and Sanitation Engineers Allied Workers Union (ZWSEAWU) general secretary Charles Phiri has said
Tetamashimba should not extend the confusion he has created in the councils to water utility companies.
According to a final list of final names of board members of the eight new boards for water utility companies, which indicate the appointing institution and academic qualifications of the appointees, Tetamashimba nominated Namakando as chairperson of Western Water and Sewerage Company.
The list also indicated that Tetamashimba, who is also MMD information and publicity chairperson, nominated Mutonka to the board of Lukanga Water and Sewerage Company. Tetamashimba also nominated opposition United Liberal Party (ULP) national chairperson Clementina Chipeta as a board member for Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company. The ULP, under the leadership of Sakwiba Sikota, campaigned for President Rupiah Banda in the October 30 presidential election.
And former Lukashya MMD member of parliament Bernard Mpundu is vice chairperson for Chambeshi Water and Sewerage Company while former United Church of Zambia (UCZ) Copperbelt presbytery overseer Bishop Committee Njase is new chairperson for Kafubu Water and Sewerage Company.
Tetamashimba also nominated a Mr. T. B. Vundamina of Mufulira as board chairperson for Mulonga Water and Sewerage Company and Morgan Ntantula as a board member of Kafubu Water and Sewerage Company.
Tetamashimba nominated Marthar Judy Evans as vice-chairperson of Eastern Water and Sewerage Company.
Other board chairpersons, whose appointing authority is not indicated, include Mpundu Mwila Shapi (Chambeshi Water and Sewerage Company), Ruth Mvula (Lukanga Water and Sewerage Company), William Nyirenda (Nkana Water and Sewerage Company) Victor Zulu (Eastern Water and Sewerage Company) and Ann Mwanza (Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company).
“The Ministry of Local Government and Housing has confidence in the men and women that have been appointed and in their ability to effectively discharge their responsibilities of providing policy guidance and overall supervision of their water utility companies. This is because they have been appointed on merit after wide consultation and screening to ensure that they met the requisite qualifications,” Tetamashimba stated. “The boards have a challenge of measuring up to the challenge of reducing by half the proportion of the population without access to safe and reliable water supply and proper sanitation by the year 2015.”
And commenting on Tetamashimba’s appointing of new boards for eight water utility companies, Charles Phiri said the dissolutions were welcome but it was not up to Tetamashimba to appoint new board chairpersons.
“It is not up to the minister to appoint the board chairperson and his vice. It is the board members that are supposed to do that. We do not want confusion in water companies,” Phiri said.
He said the tenure of office for the eight boards had expired and Tetamashimba was in order to dissolve them, but political interference should be avoided in the appointment of those boards.
Phiri said the government was a shareholder in the utility companies and did not have the power to appoint board chairpersons.
He said the boards should be allowed to operate autonomously because they were commercial entities.
“Obviously we will see party cadres being appointed as board members who will affect the independence of the water utility companies,” Phiri said.
He said the union would not allow Tetamashimba to extend the confusion he had created in the councils to the water companies. He said the union was not happy with the way Tetamashimba was running the ministry.
“We are going to give the new boards 90 days to see how they are going to operate and we will take the issue to State House because we do not need anymore confusion,” said Phiri.
Labels: BENNY TETAMASHIMBA, BOYD MUTONKA, CHARLES PHIRI, CLEMENTINE CHIPETA, CORRUPTION, MMD, PARASTATALS, SIMASIKU NAMAKANDO, ULP, WESTERN WATER AND SEWERAGE COMPANY, ZWSEAWU
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Lukulu MP accuses Chinese contractor of flouting EU rules
Written by Mwala Kalaluka
Sunday, January 04, 2009 7:06:13 PM
LUKULU East United Liberal Party (ULP) member of parliament Batuke Imenda has accused a Chinese contractor of not fully adhering to the European Union (EU) road upgrading conditionalities on the rehabilitation of the Lukulu-Kaoma road.
And Western Province MMD chairman Simasiku Namakando said the rehabilitation of the road in question, which he described as a death trap, was not properly done.
Imenda charged in an interview yesterday that the failure by China Geo-Engineering Corporation (CGC) to follow the performance based road contract conditions specified in the EU funded project had caused the 192-kilometre stretch to deteriorate to unacceptably dangerous levels.
“A Land Rover belonging to the district office of the Ministry of Agriculture in Lukulu got involved in an accident at Nang’andu on New Year’s Day. The vehicle was badly damaged,” Imenda said. “Among the four people who got injured in the accident was the council secretary for Lukulu, Mutakela Kabombo, who was admitted at Lukulu District Hospital.”
Imenda said this latest accident followed numerous others that occurred on the same road in the recent past and expressed sadness that despite being aware of the problem, CGC had not moved in to rectify the defects.
He said motor vehicles were overturning at Kashamba area almost on a weekly basis.
“CGC is aware of all these accidents but they do not seem to care about the loss of property and injuries incurred by road users. Several reminders have been communicated to rightful CGC authorities by the Road Development Agency (RDA) and my office but the advices are falling on deaf ears,” Imenda said.
“The terms of the contract are very clear. CGC will maintain the road for four years from the year of completion of construction of the road.”
Optimum Performance-based Road Contracts (OPRCs) demand that motorists could drive at a minimum speed of 40 kilometres per hour without fear or hindrance by the poor state of the road.
“I implore the Ministry of Works and Supply to speed-up the process of tarring the Lukulu-Kaoma Road,” said Imenda.
And Namakando said the quality of gravel that was used in the rehabilitation process was of poor quality, as it became slippery and muddy during the rainy season.
“There are a lot of accidents that have taken place on that road, some have not been reported. One of the first victims was myself. I had a serious one in 2007 on the same road. It is a very bad road,” he said. “I have requested the Minister of Works and Supply to visit that road with that contractor; that road must be redone.”
Namakando said the people of Western Province had overwhelmingly voted for the current administration and that there was need for the government to reciprocate by improving roads such as the Lukulu-Kaoma, Mongu-Kalabo and Shangombo-Sesheke roads.
But RDA manager for construction and maintenance Stephen Malubila assured that the contractor would revisit some of the bad sections of the road.
However, Malubila said it was usually problematic to construct roads in the Western Province because of the difficulties involved in transporting road construction materials, given the sandy terrain.
“If you transport materials over a long distance, it means the road becomes unaffordable but we will revisit some of those locations on that road,” he said. “It may cost a lot of money but we will find a way around.”
Malubila revealed that a study to find locally available materials that could be used in road construction in the province was underway in the Sesheke-Senanga area.
“A lot of contractors are at times scared that if they do road works in the province, they will be blacklisted because of the above inherent problem of materials,” said Malubila.
Labels: BATUKE IMENDA, CAR ACCIDENTS, CGC, CHINESE, INFRASTRUCTURE, MUTAKELE KABOMBO, ROADS, SIMASIKU NAMAKANDO
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