What does the future hold for Zambia’s former ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) after the election of former Lunte Member of Parliament (MP) Felix Mutati as president at the Kabwe convention party mavericks held in defiance of Nevers Mumba, the ‘legitimate’ holder of the post?
The latest happenings in the beleaguered ‘movement’ cannot by any stretch of the imagination be classified as unexpected given the MMD’s performance in by-elections in general; and Dr Mumba’s personal showing in the January 20, 2015 presidential by-election in particular.
In the 2015 presidential by-election  held to replace the late President Michael  Sata, Dr Mumba came forth after winner President Edgar Chagwa Lungu of the ruling Patriotic Front (PF), runner-up Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND) and Edith Nawakwi of the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD).
With its record as the party that ended in spectacular fashion Kenneth Kaunda’s and United National Independence Party’s (UNIP) 27-year reign and ushered in a new era of multiparty democracy in 1991, the MMD is expected to be the second strongest opposition party in the country.
But alas, that is not the case as MMD has since been overtaken by the UPND whose leader Hichilema is now the only man seen as posing a serious challenge to President Lungu in the August 11, 2016 presidential race.
It would not be far-fetched, therefore, to suggest that it is this loss of its ‘well-deserved’ status in the country’s political process that is at the core of the present MMD crisis.
Followers of the Zambian political scene will no doubt recall that a similar crisis rocked the MMD in the run-up to the 2011 tripartite elections.
The former ruling party was geared to hold its national convention after initial suggestions that President Rupiah Banda should be floated as presidential candidate without the party going to the conference, as the party constitution demanded.
However, since he assumed authority in an ‘acting’ capacity as MMD leader after the death of president Levy Mwanawasa in 2008, President Banda’s critics claimed that he had not demonstrated that he possessed the charisma to steer the party to victory in the 2011 general elections.
Banda’s attackers always cited MMD’s lacklustre performance in by-elections where it lost seats in areas previously regarded as its strongholds like North-western Province.
For example, much to the shock of the MMD rank and file, the party lost its Solwezi Central seat that was previously held by the late Home Affairs minister, Ben Tetamashimba.
To most people, particularly on the Copperbelt where the party adherents always argued that Banda was not the best man for the job if MMD was to starve off the growing threat posed by Sata’s Patriotic Front which controlled most of the urban councils in the country, then Works and Supply Minister Mike Mulongoti’s announcement that the MMD would hold a national convention did not come as a surprise.
As pressure mounted, President Banda issued a statement while on a campaign in Solwezi that it was untrue that the MMD was avoiding a national convention (to replace him) as alleged by the pact leaders, meaning Sata and Hakainde Hichilema who had entered into an electoral alliance then.
However, media reports were awash with reports that MMD members were embroiled in debates with some suggesting that the party should not hold the national convention while others said it would be against the party constitution to skip the conference simply to pave the way for Banda.
As a result of their insistence on holding the national convention, the Western Province MMD provincial executive committee headed by Simasiku Imakando was dissolved.
What seemed to complicate matters is that President Banda was still acting MMD leader and it was only at the national convention that he could assume full responsibility as party president.
Another reason prompting some MMD members to demand a national convention was that the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) members had been in office for a long time, hence the need for new leaders or those holding various posts to seek a fresh mandate.
Like what is happening now, the hottest issue was the MMD presidency, which was being eyed by many, including people touted as‘MMD founders’ – especially those who had served in both the Frederick Chiluba and Mwanawasa administrations.
After Chiluba’s failed third-term bid in 2001, the MMD constitution was amended so that the party president was not necessarily to be the national presidential candidate.
As it turned out although he lost his job as Republican president, Chiluba retained his powers as MMD president, powers which he used – much to the fury of the ambitious mavericks – to ‘hand-pick’ Mwanawasa to stand for the Republican presidency on the ruling party’s ticket.
More drama continued to unfold within the party ranks as Mwanawasa, who had at some stage resigned as Chiluba’s vice president, soon wrestled the MMD presidency from Chiluba after the latter (Chiluba) was slapped with criminal charges by the Task Force on Corruption for allegedly embezzling US $500,000.
It seems Dr Mwanawasa himself was not spared from what some people regarded as ‘back-stabbing’ because he later revealed that some of his Cabinet colleagues had expressed intentions to take over from him long before the September 28, 2006 general elections.
That notwithstanding Dr Mwanawasa advised that his successor should be picked in 2010 so that ministers – most whom had the potential to carry on the MMD mandate – could in the meantime concentrate on their Government duties.
Mindful of the importance of a smooth transition, Dr Mwanawasa also directed that if his successor was selected in 2010, it would be cheaper for the party to campaign and that 12 months before the 2011 elections would be enough to introduce the next presidential candidate to the electorate across the country.
Sadly, the former solicitor-general in the Kaunda administration, died prematurely in August 2008 after suffering a stroke while in Cairo, Egypt, where he had travelled at the end July to attend a special summit of the Africa Union (AU) on Zimbabwe’s political and economic problems.
His widow, former First Lady Maureen Mwanawasa, later revealed in a statement that her late husband had wished that former Finance and National Planning minister Ng’andu Magande should take over.
But Magande, then MP for Chilanga, received stiff opposition from President Banda’s “loyalists”, was undaunted and decided to challenge the incumbent in a direct balloting conducted by the party’s NEC.
Banda triumphed by 44 votes against Magande’s 11 votes – and the matter was thus settled.
When he ascended to power following the October 30, 2008 presidential by-election (beating Sata controversially), President Banda dropped Magande from his Cabinet.
Apparently, Dr Mwanawasa had ‘poached’ Magande from the late Anderson Mazola’s UPND, which had by then formed a pact with Sata’s Patriotic Front.
Apart from Magande, other contenders for the highly prized job at the MMD national convention was former Vice President Enoch Kavindele; who was drafted into MMD’s NEC by president Chiluba.
Months later Kavindele, the brains behind the envisaged Chingola-Solwezi Railway Project, won the election as vice president of MMD and Chiluba soon appointed him as Republican Vice President.
Dr Mwanawasa decided to retain Kavindele as vice president when he assumed State power in January 2002.
But soon Kavindele was embroiled in a war of words with (lawyer) Mwanawasa over how to run government affairs.
It was Mwanawasa’s contention that top government leaders were supposed to serve the people instead of doing business with the State, which was also their employer.
President Mwanawasa and Kavindele parted ways and the accountant-turned-politician was not adopted by the MMD to stand for parliamentary elections in his home district of Kabompo (North Western Province) in September 2006.
Instead of completely backing out, Kavindele decided to stand as an independent, but failed to retain his Kabompo seat.
Kavindele resurfaced after the death of Mwanawasa and floated himself a messiah to sustain the MMD in the October 30, 2008 presidential by-election.
Then Defence Minister, George Mpombo claimed that Mwanawasa left the “instruments of power” to him before the deceased government leader left for the African Union (AU) summit in Egypt.
The nation was recently taken by surprise when Mpombo decided to resign his position as defence minister in President Banda’s government, the same position he held at the time of President Mwanawasa’s demise in a Paris military hospital.
Mpombo had been consistent in calling for a national convention after resigning from government.
I may have strayed in this analysis but my intention is/was to give the reader some detailed background information, which shows that what has happened to Dr Mumba and the MMD in general is not without a precedent.
One wonders, therefore, whether the MMD would remain intact either under Nevers Mumba or Felix Mutati or any other leader for that matter?
Instead of creating enemies, the Mumba and Mutati factions should perhaps be persuaded to reconcile or better still the Mutati group could simply take a leaf from South Africa’s Congress of the People (COPE) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)- both splinter groups of the ruling African National Congress (ANC)- and formed their own party.
Since they say they are not targeting the August 11, 2016 elections but the 2021 elections, the Mutati group will have enough time – five years to mobilise and develop their party into a formidable force.
Former president Banda has much experience and is better placed to bring the two factions to a negotiating table for the common good of the country’s flourishing democracy.
Comments: alfredmulenga777@mail.com