No person can make decisions on behalf of MMD NEC – VJ

Retired veteran politician Vernon Mwaanga says MMD President Nevers Mumba u-turned on the agreement he reached with former President Rupiah Banda with regards how the former ruling party was going to proceed in the forthcoming presidential election.
Dr. Mwaanga has told QFM News in an interview that the agreement was arrived at with the counsel of lawyers and that details of the agreement were supposed to be disclosed at a media briefing which both Dr. Mumba and Mr. Banda were to jointly address.
And Dr Mwaanga says the MMD constitution which was written in 1990 does not provide for any link between party presidency and presidential candidate.
Dr. Mwaanga explains that the MMD constitution which was approved in 1991 at the party’s first convention does, however give powers to the part’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to select any member to become the party’s candidate for any national election.
Dr. Mwaanga who is also a founder member of the MMD, states that this power is on the other hand exercised only in between party conventions.
He states that this is the same power that was exercised in 2001 when the NEC choose late President Levy Mwanawasa as the presidential candidate and in 2008 when NEC again choose former President Rupiah Banda as presidential candidate following the death of President Levy Mwanawasa.
Dr Mwaanga says this means that NEC is the highest organ of the former ruling party in between conventions and therefore every member of the NEC including the party president is bound to accept the decision of NEC whether one personally agrees or disagrees with its decision.
He says no one person can thus make decisions on behalf of NEC as there is no such power provided for in the MMD constitution and that it was not intended that such powers exist.

QFM