Nevers dumped

THE MMD top brass have unanimously passed a vote of no confidence in party leader Nevers Mumba.
They have since called for the dissolution of the National Executive Committee (NEC) to allow the party to hold an extraordinary convention to elect new office bearers.
The leaders have also denied any involvement by State House to fan trouble in the former ruling party, as alleged by Dr Mumba last week.
When contacted, Dr Mumba said he would not be deterred from his mandate to prepare to lead the party during the 2016 general elections.
“I am currently going round the country to prepare for the 2016 general elections and would not be distracted from this mandate to organise the party,” he said.
Problems in the MMD have reached the peak, forcing the top party members led by the two vice-presidents, Brian Chituwo, in charge of administration, and Michael Kaingu for politics, to speak openly against the leadership of Dr Mumba, who took over the party leadership from Rupiah Banda in 2011.
Dr Chituwo and Dr Kaingu led other members who included Kapembwa Simbao, the Member of Parliament for Senga Hill, Eustarckio Kazonga, Dora Siliya and Lucky Mulusa at a Press briefing in Lusaka yesterday to announce the radical measures required to salvage the party from total collapse.
“Failure to admit that our party is dying a slow and painful death will be gross injustice to many Zambians who regard the MMD as their only political home to participate in the governance of our nation.
“We deny any links to State House nor to the Post newspaper and we wish to state in no uncertain terms that ours is a noble call of duty to take leadership on numerous calls from our members for an extraordinary convention to put in place a leadership that will be inspiring to our members, a leadership that will achieve relevance for our party,” Dr Chituwo said.
Ms Siliya also said she would not be afraid to tell any leader if she felt there was poor performance as that would be a disservice to the people and the party leadership.
State House Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations, George Chellah said he had been vindicated by the contradictory statements issued by the Dr Chituwo-led team and Dr Mumba, who accused his members of being backed by State House.
“The statement from Dr Chituwo, Dr Kaingu and Dora Siliya only shows that Dr Mumba was being insincere, this has exposed Dr Mumba.
“Next time, Dr Mumba should at least speak the truth,” Mr Chellah said in a separate interview.

Times of Zambia