By Tuesday Bwalya
FROM the time Dr Nevers Mumba took over leadership of the former ruling party, the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD), he has never enjoyed his tenure.
His leadership is dogged by court cases and many schemes by the former leader of the MMD and former Republican president, Rupiah Bwenzani Banda. Dr Mumba has been firefighting in his quest to remain at the helm of the party. He has also unjustifiably tasted prison after being accused of trespassing on a public institution, the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation.
Many readers may recall that prior to the 2016 general election, Mr Banda, Mr Felix Mutati and others teamed up against Dr Mumba. On 20th May, 2016, they held a convention for the MMD without the blessings of the party’s National Executive Committee Central Committee, let alone the leader, Dr Mumba. That illegal convention saw Mr Mutati emerge as the new leader of the MMD and Mr Raphael Nakachinda became national secretary of the Mutati faction. Mr Banda celebrated the election of Mr Mutati and swiftly organised for an alliance with the PF. Dr Mumbu was perplexed but ran to the courts of law.
Due to the confusion caused by Mr Banda and Mr Mutati’s team, Dr Mumba did not contest the 2016 presidential election. Instead, he backed the UPND leader, Hakainde Hichilema (HH). The court, however, in November 2019 declared the convention that elected Mr Mutati as leader of the MMD illegal. The court further pronounced Dr Mumba as the legitimate leader of the MMD. Certainly, the court ruling was difficult for Mr Mutati’s team to stomach considering that their shaky alliance with the PF was based on them being MMD members. People like Mr Nakachinda even wanted to petition the court ruling so that the fight for MMD could rage on.
After Dr Mumba was declared legitimate leader of the MMD, many Zambians including the author of this article thought the MMD would settle down and begin to mobilise in readiness for the 2021 general elections. Alas, the MMD and Dr Mumba were confronted with another battle.
Last month, Mr Banda was reported to have asked the MMD leadership to return to his custody over 300 vehicles that he claimed he had placed at the service of the party during the 2011 general election campaigns. The New Hope MMD national secretary, Elizabeth Chitika-Molobeka, appeared in several media outlets confirming that Mr Banda, through his administrative secretary Chibeza Mfune, had indeed requested the party to hand over all the vehicles that were bought during his tenure.
She further complained that the former leader had also asked the Inspector General of Police, Mr Kakoma Kanganja not to allow Dr Mumba’s team retrieve those MMD vehicles from people who were no longer members without Mr Banda’s approval.
The first question that comes to my mind is, did Mr Banda buy the 300 motor vehicles using his personal resources for him to claim them back? If so, where did he get so much money from for him to buy 300 brand new vehicles for the 2011 election campaigns? This explains why it became the most expensive election campaign in our history, which he also lost to Mr Michael Sata.
I thought that vehicles bought corruptly or cleanly for the MMD during Mr Banda’s tenure belonged to the MMD as a party; he certainly cannot claim to be the sole owner. It is ridiculous for Mr Banda to claim ownership of the vehicles. It is like a chief executive officer who buys vehicles for the company whilst serving in that position, and when he leaves the institution, he wants to collect everything bought under his tenure. That cannot happen because the vehicles are properties of that company.
In the same vein, the vehicles bought for the MMD under Mr Banda’s tenure remain MMD vehicles and Dr Mumba’s team should retrieve all of them from wherever they are being illegally kept. All the people holding on to the MMD vehicles should surrender them without hesitation to the new MMD leaders.
I have observed that Mr Banda is playing politics on the issue of vehicles. He can claim to have retired from active politics but he is still deep rooted in it. He is being used by the PF and other selfish people to ensure that Dr Mumba has no time and means to mobilise his party. This is another strategy to cripple Dr Mumba’s ability to meaningfully mobilise the party in readiness for 2021. The PF and their partners such as Mr Banda himself know that allowing Dr Mumba to mobilise freely may cost them some votes in next year’s elections. Therefore, it is in PF and Mr Banda’s interest that the New Hope MMD is further disorganised or incapacitated. To them, the perfect way to implement such as devilish strategy is not to allow Dr Mumba’s team have custody of the MMD assets which include vehicles.
It is shameful for the former president to continue fighting Dr Mumba despite the courts of law pronouncing him the legitimate leader of the MMD. Mr Banda and the PF should come to terms that for now the MMD has its leader in the name of Dr Mumba. The police also should not be seen to be helping demolish the MMD by preventing the legitimate members of the party from retrieving vehicles from people such as Mr Nakachinda who are no longer MMD members. Instead, police should promote law and order, not anarchy. Please Mr Banda and your allies, allow Dr Mumba to mobilise his New Hope MMD for the 2021 polls.
The author is a lecturer at the University of Zambia, Department of Library and Information Science. Send your comments to: tuesdaybwalya1@gmail.com