Mutati’s Double-Dealings With UPND

Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) National Treasurer Ms Elizabeth Chitika has exposed the duplicitous character of Lunte Member of Parliament Felix Mutati and that he has been the shadow behind the confusion that engulfed the party soon after the election of Party President Dr. Nevers Sekwila Mumba. Ms Chitika said Mr Mutati was soundly beaten in 2012 and has been the chief driver of the recent  incessant calls for an MMD Convention to elect a new party president before the August 2016  General Elections. This is allegedly because Mr. Mutati has never recovered from the humiliating defeat he suffered at the hands of Dr. Mumba.

A poorly designed official 2016 United Party for National Development (UPND) calendar headed “2016 UPND NEW TEAM FOR 2016 FOR ALL ZAMBIANS” that shows pictures of various individuals including UPND President  Hakainde Hichilema and his wife, a picture of late UPND founding president Anderson Mazoka (MHSRIP) and United Liberal Party (ULP) President Mr. Sakwiba Sikota was unearthed in Lufwanyama during the party mobilization tour late last year. Others on the calendar are former MMD minister Mr Vernon J Mwaanga, Alliance for Development and Democracy (ADD) President Charles Milupi and several current UPND Members of Parliament but shockingly, this line-up also includes Mr Mutati who is referred  to as a “UPND Official” in a caption under his picture.

Meanwhile, at a meeting chaired by Party President Dr. Mumba on Saturday evening  to address reactions in the media to the resolutions of the MMD National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held on 30th January 2016, Deputy National Secretary Ms Winnie Zaloumis informed the meeting that the party is standing on very firm ground and reiterated that the party would not be holding a party convention this year and that the party President’s tenure of office would only expire in 2017.

The meeting also included two lawyers who had presented their legal opinion on the Party Constitution concerning the issue of holding a convention. They reiterated that the MMD party is standing on firm ground on the matter and that those calling for a convention had no legal backing. They further  informed the meeting that the NEC being the highest party organ  in between conventions had legal and moral authority to make binding decisions on holding of conventions and any legal challenge to such decisions was doomed to fail.

Another important point raised was that it is not mandatory for a president to be elected during every single convention, meaning that even if one had been held this year, it would not involve the Party President as his term of office expires in 2017.

Speaking later, Dr. Mumba assured the NEC members  to remain focused  as the period the party had reached  was extremely crucial and enemies of the progress the party has made are panicking and want to derail and confuse the party but they are destined to  fail.

And briefing the meeting on the status of the proposed  alliance between the MMD and the Patriotic Front (PF), Dr. Mumba said that  both himself and the Republican President Edgar Lungu had been out of the country but that the two leaders had communicated with  each other  prior to President Lungu’s departure for the Vatican. He said the one-to-one preliminary meeting between the two leaders is on the cards and would take place as soon as a date is confirmed by both parties.

At the same meeting,  Ms Chitika confronted MMD Party Spokesman Raphael Nakacinda to explain a report attributed to him on Zambian Watchdog in which he was quoted as having  told MMD President Nevers Mumba “to behave.” Mr Nakacinda strongly denied ever having issued such a report to Zambian Watchdog saying even the type of language in the article was not in his character. He promised to tell the Zambian Watchdog to retract the statement with immediate effect.

MMD