MMD NORTH CONDEMNS MUNKOMBWE’S TRIBAL REMARKS

MMD NORTH CONDEMNS MUNKOMBWE’S TRIBAL REMARKS
The Movement for Multi-Party Democracy in Northern Province has strongly condemned Southern Province Minister Daniel Munkombwe for the alarming tribal remarks he made at the United Party for National Development rally in Choma on 13th January, 2015.

Mr. Cephas Bwalya, MMD Provincial Information and Publicity Secretary has said the MMD’s NEC Member Mrs. Elizabeth Chitika-Molobeka who some weeks ago accused the UPND of being a tribal party and being tribal in their campaigns has been vindicated. Mr. Bwalya has further said that the UPND should be sincere with the people of Zambia and be open in they have failed to shake off the ‘tribal’ tag and openly denounce tribalism.

“Honorable Munkombwe is a Provincial Minister and nominated Member of Parliament in the PF Government and his remarks promoting the Tonga tribe and denouncing the PF is not only immoral but very embarrassing coming from a man of his age. He should instead be in the forefront of educating Zambians to ignore tribal lines and call for unity as the country prepares for voting on 20th January, 2015. What happened in Choma is a clear testimony that the so-called ‘UPND Zambia Unity Tour’ is a fake political gimmick aimed at deceiving Zambians.”

“We extend our condemnation to the UPND for being deceptive in pretending to be rejecting Honourable Munkombwe’s tribal remarks. Many Zambians, who watched the live coverage of that rally on MUVI TV, are very aware that as soon as Mr. Munkombwe finished speaking, he was embraced by UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema saying that he was greatly humbled and very grateful for the endorsement.”

“HH only realized his hypocrisy and blunder after the negative reaction of the people of Zambia and then issued a statement through his campaign manager Dipak Patel to clean up the mess Mr. Munkombwe has caused. The whole rally was extremely tribal and should be condemned by all well-meaning Zambians,” said Mr. Bwalya.

Mr. Bwalya has reminded the people of Zambia to approach the coming election with extreme caution and not allow themselves to be hoodwinked again by the same ‘fake wind’ which deceived them in 2011. He further said UPND has always been associated with tribalism which they exhibited openly during their party convention held at Mulungushi Conference Centre soon after the demise of the late UPND President Anderson Mazoka in 2006.

He said Mr. Mazoka, in sharp contrast to Mr. Hichilema’s leadership style, offered a civilized leadership which embraced all tribes having had people like Mr. Patrick Chisanga, Bob Sichinga, Given Lubinda, the late Henry Mtonga and lawyer Sakwiba Sikota who were hounded out of the convention after the declaration by Mr. Ackson Sejani that only a Tonga can be UPND president.

Mr. Bwalya sounded a timely warning to the MMD members who have aligned with UPND that they are only being used for selfish reasons and stand to be disappointed and extremely hurt because the current fake warm welcome given to them by UPND is short-lived.

He says MMD members campaigning for HH should take note of the remark hurled at Mr. William Banda, Special Adviser to Mr. Hichilema, of not being a genuine UPND member when he tried to calm the violent behavior of UPND cadres when they recently accused the Electoral Commission of Zambia of having brought in two trucks containing pre-marked ballot papers from South Africa.

However, upon opening the boxes, it turned out that the boxes contained batteries, chairs, lamps and plastic tables meant for polling stations. There has been no apology from UPND to the ECZ to date.