Fri, 25 Jan 2013 09:29:42 +0000
Dr Nevers Mumba, president of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) has branded the Richard Kachingwe led splinter group as a branch of the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) masquerading as members of the former ruling party.
Dr Mumba has charged that the PF government had continued sponsoring acrimony in the MMD but that his party was not going to be distracted from offering checks and balances on the government’s failed policies.
Dr Mumba alleged that the government had allowed major Kachingwe and his group to continue masquerading as MMD because the embattled former national secretary and his group were an extension of the Patriotic Front.
Estranged Maj Kachingwe and his erstwhile MMD national women’s chairperson Catherine Namugala this week launched what they called the true MMD secretariat off Bwinjimfumu road claiming that Dr Mumba was an impostor.
He said the PF has continued to destabilize the MMD by funding some people to create acrimony in the former ruling party.
Dr Mumba said in an interview yesterday that it was a known fact that Major Kachingwe and his group were an appendage of the Patriotic Front warning that the continued use of the name of the MMD by the faction would attract police action.
He stated that it was strange that the PF government could allow Maj Kachingwe and his group to run parallel branches by those who have been expelled from the MMD.
“We do not call Maj Kachingwe and his group an extension of the MMD. That is a branch of the Patriotic Front. The PF and that group are in it together and that is why government has allowed them to continue masquerading as MMD members. Those are not our members and if they continue using the name of the MMD, that will attract police action.
Dr Mumba said he has made it clear to the nation that he had resigned from the Reform Party in 2008 and that he has been registered as the legitimate president of the MMD by the registrar of societies after former president Rupiah Banda relinquished his position,
He has advised Maj Kachingwe and his group to know that there was no hostility from the MMD and that their (faction) antagonistic approach to resolving differences would only alienate them further from the party and the people.
Meanwhile, MMD national youth Secretary Tobias Kafumukache has distanced himself from the Maj Kachingwe led splinter group and has pledged that he will remain loyal to Dr Mumba and the MMD.
Mr Kafumukache said at a media briefing yesterday at the MMD secretariat that assertions that he was aligning himself with the Maj Kachingwe group were false and unfounded.
“I recognize and respect the entire MMD leadership led by Dr Nevers Mumba who is the president of our party duly elected by the convention. I also respect and recognize Mr Kapembwa Simbao as the chief executive officer of the party and therefore I have no intentions of causing divisions in the party,” Mr Kafumukache said.
