Sat, 01 Dec 2012 17:07:49 +0000
Embattled MMD president Dr. Nevers Mumba has warned against coup-d’états in the party and says those who wish to challenge him for the top position will only do so at the expiry of his five-year term.
Dr. Mumba said that the MMD was the most democratic opposition in the country, hence would always follow the democratic principles when it comes to the election of leadership.
And Dr. Mumba has with immediate effect expelled his National Secretary Major Richard Kachingwe from the party for what he called gross indiscipline and insubordination.
Addressing members of the Press at the party secretariat, Dr. Mumba said that his party was the most democratic in the nation, stressing however that wishing to challenge him should wait for five years.
“MMD is the most democratic party. There will never be a coup d’état in this party. If anyone wants power of a political party he should use a process of coming to stand as a president and there is only one president at a time,” he said.
Dr. Mumba said that there was no way a junior member of the party could expel him because he had no such powers.
“A junior member to expel the president, he has absolutely no power to expel the president, secondly the presidency of the MMD is not one of these Presidents that you find in compounds, bars and taverns. This is a democratic party,” he said.
He said that he was MMD president because he was duly elected by the convention and hence him being the president of the former ruling party.
Dr. Mumba said that the letter Maj. Kachingwe wrote expelling him had no backing from the National Executive Committee (NEC).
“I sit here because I was duly elected by the National Convention of all members of the party throughout the country. The letter Maj. Kachingwe had written had no backing by the members of the National Executive Committee that has the authority to deselect any member.
“It is this type of behavior that I felt it was necessary to rebrand the MMD. This is the MMD I came to charge, MMD of indiscipline, MMD of jokers like Kachingwe who thinks that he owns the party and goes to say that he is going to fire the president.”
Dr. Mumba urged Maj. Kachingwe to concentrate on his exculpation rather than scheming to dethrone him which was undemocratic.
He said that he had all along been protecting Maj. Kachngwe without knowing that he was scheming evil actions against him.
” But he has no power at all, what he needs to concentrate on is to exculpate himself from the charges of being a mole in the MMD. I have kept quiet to protect him until the due process of the party constitution was followed and concluded. I would have spoken a long time ago about his disappointment behavior but I believe in justice and rule of law in the MMD.
This issue has already been taken up by relevant authority to discipline him but today he writes the letter in desperation in which he wanted to find a way of creating confusion, he comes here he collects people and pay people money, we know where he is getting the money from. All over a sudden he has money to pay some of our members to come and make a statement in the secretariat against the president without the authority of the party chairman, without the authority of the NEC and without the authority of the members,” he said.
He said that when he was elected party president he promised to rebrand the MMD and people like Maj. Kachingwe were the people God would like to move out of the party as it prepared to get back into office in 2016.
Dr. Mumba said that the MMD could not win an election with people like Maj. Kachingwe because they were deceptive in nature.
“We can never win an election with elements like my national secretary; I protected him because I thought that he was a civil man. If Major Kachingwe wants to be president of this party there will another convention in the next five years and he can stand against me and see it if he can win an election,
“I want to reiterate that he has written a letter which he has since distributed to members of the Press that Dr. Mumba is not a member of the MMD, what a shame, because Nevers Mumba did not bring himself to the party, I was brought back using the normal process of the party and Dr. Katele Kalumba can testify to that effect,” he said.
And Dr. Mumba he had has expelled Maj. Kachingwe from the party pending the ratification of the National Executive Committee (NEC) at its urgent meeting next week.
He said that two weeks ago Members of Parliament visited his office to petition the removal of Maj. Kachingwe. They allegedly charged that his conduct and statements in support of the Patriotic Front (PF) government were detrimental to the life of the party and the office was highly compromised.
“We decided to have a meeting with the top five members of our party among them the two Vice presidents and myself. I decided to form a three man committee to speak to Major Kachingwe about his conduct. It was recommended to me that we needed to take an immediate action to remove Maj Kachingwe from that position because his continued stay compromised the party leadership.
“I called Maj. Kachingwe to my home and I was the deliverer of the bad news to him that his continued stay in office was not tenable because of the levels of confidence in him by the general membership of the party had extremely been compromised. Most because of his statements in which he was supporting and glorifying the PF and President Sata instead of his own political party.
He said Maj Kachingwe had continued with his misconduct, and personally brought the letter to the president which was gross insubordination.
‘In his letter he said t he had expelled the party president something that has never happened. I have with immediate effect expelled Maj. Kachingwe pending the ratification by NEC. He will never step his foot at our secretariat,” he said.
