FDD sues Chifumu over ‘Save FDD Committee’

Thu, 06 Apr 2017 09:58:22 +0000

By CHIKUMBI KATEBE

THE Forum for Democracy and Development has sued Chifumu Banda, Lawrence Mwelwa and Yotum Mtayachalo for allegedly creating an illegal arm of the party outside their recognised structures.

In a statement of claim filed by FDD national secretary Nathan Mulonga, the three have been accused of masquerading as FDD members when they were not.

“On or about the 16th day of March 2017 the 3rd defendant issued a letter in which he and the other defendants purported to have formed a new organ of the FDD called “Save FDD Committee”.

“On 25th and 26th March 2017 a national policy committee meeting was held at Lima Garden Lodge which, inter alia, resolved that the “Save FDD Committee” was not a recognised party committee as it did not exist under the FDD constitution,” he said.

FDD embattled president Edith Nawakwi and her executive have asked the court to declare the “Save FDD Committee” as an illegal entity and therefore must be nullified, and that the three were not members of the party and did not represent its interest.

And Mr Mulonga has requested the court for a restraining order against Mr Banda and the two from using the name “Save FDD Committee” which he said was illegal and outside the party structures.  He said the three defendants must be barred from holding any meetings, issuing statements or conducting activities under the guise of the “Save FDD Committee”.

Mr Mulonga has accused the three of conducting themselves in a manner ill-disposed to the interests of the party, while using the official FDD logo and calling themselves members of the opposition party, adding that “….when they knew or ought to have known that they were expelled from the party”.

He said the defendants’ action had brought the good name of the party in disrepute in the minds of right thinking members of the public in the country, hence the application for a restraining order.