Founding member of the opposition Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) Mbita Chitala says the former ruling party needs to go back to the basics upon which it was formed as party that fought for good governance and democracy.
Dr. Chitala’s observation comes in the wake of the wrangles that have crept in the MMD where the two party vice presidents Dr. Michael Kaingu and Dr. Brian Chituwo and some members of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) have risen against the leadership of party president Dr. Nevers Mumba.
And Dr. Chitala has observed that the MMD is not what it used to be despite it still holding the status of being party of national character and being the biggest opposition political party in the country.
Dr. Chitala, who is also a political activist, has suggested that the MMD needs to rebrand itself into a developmental party by firstly changing its manifesto and reforming its constitution.
Speaking to Qfm news in an interview this on Sunday afternoon, Dr. Chitala says this will allow a new movement that will bring hope to the people for a better Zambia.
He adds that besides changing its work attitude by being more accommodative, the former ruling party also needs a new leadership which should be ushered in through a national convention in order to get rid of none MMD members that have imposed what he has described as a new and strange culture of intolerance.
Dr. Chitala has however warned that without these changes he has suggested, the MMD risks being swallowed up by other political parties and thereby become irrelevant to solving problems affecting the country.
And Dr. Chitala has also observed that the late republic president Levy Patrick Mwanawasa left a very difficult legacy for the former ruling party when brought in former United National Independence Party (UNIP) cadres who took over the MMD.
He says former republican president Rupiah Banda has also played a part in changing the MMD from what it used to be as he too brought none MMD people who displaced original members of the former ruling party.