MMD president Nevers Mumba says if the party’s discussion, for a possible alliance with the PF, takes a route that incorporates the plight for most Zambians, then he is game for it.
He featured on a special interview programme on Diamond TV on Tuesday night.
Mumba, however, stressed that he is on the side of Zambians, who are overwhelmed with socio-economic despair.
He said he did have a position, on whether or not to go into an alliance with the PF, but that such a position would be expressed fully in the MMD’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting and at the March 20 national convention.
“If the National Executive Committee decides that we go with the Patriotic Front or any other political party, that becomes our preference,” Mumba said. “But as I speak right now we are going to make sure we debate it [and] look at how that decision will benefit the Zambian people, to come out of the challenges that we are facing as a nation.”
He noted that the MMD rank and file would assess how its contribution to an alliance could bring about the hope that Zambians were yearning for.
“These are the issues that are going to be under discussion during our convention. I’m sure it will be a worthwhile venture for us and I think we’ll come out with the right decision and we are going to make the nation aware of the decision that we are going to make,” he said.
Asked by co-interviewer, Costa Mwansa, to categorically say if there was currently the option of an alliance with the PF on the table, Mumba responded that: “we have not met as a party to discuss the alliance with the Patriotic Front.”
“That’s why it’s difficult for me to act like the champion of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy. But the moment we sit down and talk about it, we’ll let the nation know,” he said.
“I’m just a leader [of the MMD and] MMD operates the same way for the past 30 years. The [party] president is simply the chairman of his colleagues. A decision that is collectively made… That’s why we have been winning cases in court under my leadership; it’s because I respect the collective agreement and arrangement of my party.”
Mumba reiterated that once the topic to do with an alliance with the PF was tabled, “then we’ll be able to say this is our position.”
“But yes, there have been some proposals that have come to us about the Patriotic Front and we have told our colleagues that that can only come on the table of the National Executive Committee and the convention, and not Nevers Mumba alone,” he explained, adding that conversations of alliances were now topical in all political parties, ahead of the August 12 elections. “We can’t escape the discussion on alliances. It’s on everyone’s mouth; it’s in the UPND, NDC, ADD, Patriotic Front. I don’t know why people think it should not be in the Movement for Multiparty Democracy.”
Mumba also indicated that his preoccupation had been to make the MMD a viable force, now that all its provincial and district leaderships were in place.
He said if the MMD decided to go into an alliance with the PF, its NEC would consider every bit of the situation, to ensure that whatever happened, going forward, was going to benefit ordinary Zambians.
“I would do nothing as Nevers Mumba to selfishly serve my interests. I will never do it! I have had a lot of opportunities to get that done but I’m on the side of the Zambian people,” he said. “I’m on the side of the tears of the suffering Zambian people. I’m on the side of the families that are broken down because they can’t pay their bills and put food on the table.”
Mumba stressed that: “I’ll always be on the side of Zambian people.”
“So, if our discussion with our colleagues takes these issues into consideration, then I’m game. But at the moment we are going to the convention to choose a president who is also a presidential candidate,” said Mumba. “We are not afraid to go into an alliance with the Patriotic Front, as long as we line up the things that I have talked about. I’m very comfortable with the processes of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy to reach a decision as important as that of an alliance. What we’ll not do is to be like a bush party that does not have a system in which it can arrive at such an important decision.”