Wed, 07 Jun 2017 10:28:30 +0000
BY BENNIE MANDANDO AND CHITE MTONGA
PRESSURE is mounting on former Copperbelt Province Minister Mwenya Musenge to step down or be expelled from the PF central committee after his open rebellion against the party on a
number of issues as the leadership on the Copperbelt want him removed from the committee and fired from the party.
Meanwhile, information has emerged that Mr. Musenge has been holding secret meetings with chief Mukuni of Southern Province and some UPND officials, much to the annoyance of the PF youths in Lusaka.
AND JOSSY CHAIMA reports that Kitwe District Patriotic Front (PF) Chairperson Christopher Kang’ombe has demanded for the expulsion of ungrateful Musenga from the party.
Mr Kang’ombe has demanded that the position of central member of committee position be given to a more deserving candidate that is ready to rally behind President Edgar Lungu.
Speaking during the PF press briefing yesterday in Kitwe he said during last year’s election the PF together with the President supported Musenge despite him not being popular in Chimwemwe Constituency.
He said the party is deeply disappointed by the nonsense from Mr Musenge and he should be removed from the party so that peace and sanity should be restored in party.
Mr Kang’ombe said come 2021 the PF on the Copperbelt and all party structures are ready to support the President because he has delivered what he promised the people of Zambia.
And Nkana Constituency Vice chairman Daniel Chinyama said Mr Musenge should go back to UPND.
Mr Chinyama said the PF will not condone Musenge’s behaviour, him visiting UPND leader in prison is an indication of his alliance to the opposition party.
He said the PF party welcomed Musenge and made him what he is now and if he thinks his a political giant he should form his own party and leave the PF in peace.
And in a joint statement from the youths and women wings in Kitwe signed by Kaboba Mukhuzo and Maggie Mwila yesterday, the leadership has appealed to the disciplinary committee which was sitting yesterday to oust Mr. Musenge from the committee.
“We are deeply shocked and disappointed by the behaviour of Mr. Musenge and we appeal to the disciplinary committee that is sitting in Lusaka today (yesterday) to remove him from the central committee and expel him from the party for gross misconduct and indiscipline. His behaviour of visiting UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema shows that he is not loyal to the PF.
Meanwhile, PF youths in Lusaka have challenged Mr. Musenge to explain what he had been discussing with chief Mukuni and UPND during their secret meetings.
PF diehard Max Chongo has challenged Mr. Musenge to explain what has been attracting him to people that perceived the PF and President Edgar Lungu as their enemies as he had been spotted a number of times in the company of UPND officials and the chief.
In another development Lusaka province youth chairperson, Kennedy Kamba has charged that it was Roan MP, Chishimba Kambwili who was indisciplined for being disrespectful to the secretary general of the party by going against the directive that President Edgar Lungu will be a sole candidate in the 2021 elections and it is him who is bringing confusion in the party, Kennedy Kamba has charged.
AND Mr Kambwili has been advised to come out in the open and declare interest in the party presidency unlike having dark corner maneuvers to destabilize the party.
Patriotic Front National youth and security chairperson Stephen Kampyongo has said Mr Kambwili should stop his rantings and come out in the open to declare interest in the party presidency as no one in the PF had stopped him from expressing himself in the way of becoming presidential candidate at the general conference in 2020.
He said Mr Kambwili was indisciplined as he had been daring the party and its rules since he was shown the exit door from President Edgar Lungu’s Cabinet barely months after his reappointment.
“The Patriotic Front has not gone to sleep and will not allow detractors like Kambwili to succeed in destroying the party for personal satisfaction,” Mr. Kampyongo warned.
Speaking to the media at his residence in Lusaka on Monday, Mr. Kambwili said there was too much indiscipline in the PF as “small boys” were attacking senior members of the party with impunity as the party watched without doing anything.
Mr. Kambwili said he would not be silenced from talking about the wrong things that were happening in the party but that he took exception to being warned by small boys such as Mr, Kamba, PF media director Sunday Chanda, and Copperbelt Province minister Bowman Lusambo.
