THE MACHIVELLIAN RITES OF
SUCCESSION IN THE MMD WHEN MWANAWASA DIED
BY KATELE KALUMBA
The murky forces that were
unleashed in the wake of the news that Zambian Republican President Levy
Patrick Mwanawasa had collapsed in Egypt and was struggling for dear life in a French
Hospital where he later died will perhaps not be fully documented for the
public. But as former Chief Executive of the Ruling Party with the title of
National Secretary and the custodian of the Constitution of the Movement for
Multi-Party Democracy (The MMD), I witnessed the most despicable acts of human
folly in the process of finding a successor to Mwanawasa. I presided over this
process while I was being stabbed front, back, sides and head. The abuses I was
exposed to were principally authored by our then Vice President of the
Republic of Zambia and our novitiate Party Trustee, Mr Rupiah Bwezani Banda in
his cunning quest to be “allowed to complete the three years left by my brother”
as he put it. Needless to say after three years, he sought another five year
term and fell to the Patriotic Front’s machine of Michael Chilufya Sata in
2011 after a sympathetic vote in 2008 allowed him to serve the three years he
pleaded for.
Rupiah Bwezani Banda or RB as he
was fondly known, was a master at concealing his hand in schemes of deceit and political
mayhem. His dreaded foe, he was made to believe, was the National Secretary,
moi, who under our Party Constitution managed fully the day to day processes of
the Party. Sensing challenge from Ngandu Magande, probably the former First
Lady, Maureen Mwanawasa, and a hoard of other older MMD leaders, he established
a cartel of political hitmen and women. Prominent among these were the late Ben
Tetamashimba, Mike Mulongoti, and Catherine Namugala. By liberally promising
political tokens he won the hearts of even the most ardent trustees of Levy
such as the late George Kunda and now diplomat Bwalya Chiti. He completely
castrated the power of the National Chairman Michael Mabenga. With tons of
misinformation procured through this cartel and particularly from Madam
Catherine Namugala, he hated me with a passion and I have never been surprised
at the legal woes that had befallen me under his tenure. As my late friend Mambo
Banda who educated me about the character of the man, RB, particularly his art
of deception, and who tried to work with my uncle Senior Chief Nzamane to
mediate, I had to prepare myself for the worst. Mambo revealed to me how RB, being
a major critic of Mwanawasa during their Katuta Lodge Days(which belonged to
Mambo and frequented by his two “friends” Dr George Chabwera and RB), the latter
surprisingly disappeared and went to donate a Boran Bull to Levy Mwanawasa
during a public political rally of the MMD in Kasenengwa. I had drawn up a
program to take Levy through out the Eastern Province to win it over after a
flurry of complaints from Eastern Royal Houses. RB , an anti-MMD and a proclaimed
retired politician from the UNIP days, announced to the audience how, as an old
politician , he had discovered very important virtues in Levy and why he
thought the East should support him. The Bull was a token of his support. Levy
was ready to reject it as he whispered to me because he knew from his
intelligence sources the “crap” this old man had been saying about him. But
since we were canvassing for support for our 2006 elelctions and sensing the
decline of support for Levy in the Northern and Luapula Provinces, I was not
ready to risk an electoral loss because of my candidate’s delicate ego. I
persuaded him to accept as measure of his magnanimity. Needless to say we won
the East, lost Luapula and Northern to PF but the national “trophy” was ours,
Levy was re-elected for the second time. And Rupiah Bwezani Banda was appointed
his Vice President with his quite very young and unassuming wife Thandiwe as
the Second Lady of our Republic. I reproduce the letter below as part of a
series of battles I had to fight against Banda’s hitmen during the succession
crisis of 2008. Banda’s dread was realized and confirmed why he had to hate me
when I allowed to open the applications to any candidate who was a member and
had not served a three year term in a party position. The legal reason was that three years only applied to Party offices. This allowed me to
re-admit Enock Kavindele and Nevers Mumba who had been expelled by Levy and
allowed them to contest. It also allowed me to accept RB who had not served three years in the Party. All in all all, I allowed 18 applicants amongst whom,
one Hikaumba, President of the ZCTU was not publicly announced by me as per his
request and speculation in the media was buzzing whether it was Maureen or indeed
myself.
Having been told by Catherine that I had said “he lacked balls to be a
leader” (an insult I never levelled at him in that way), he had enough reason to
be suspicious of me. In my personal encounter on this particular grudge when
Mambo organized a mediation, I confronted him and urged to stand up to the
punches that Magande and Masebo were throwing if he really wanted to succeed Mwanawasa.
That too confirmed the reported insult.
But I and RB went far in history in
ways we both recalled different episodes. I remembered him in early 1970s as a General Manager of
a NAMBoard that was corruptly and nepotistically run, where tons of fertilizer
wagons disappeared and I was tasked by the State then to investigate under the
guise of a Staff Development Officer under a Scottish “dog minder”. I reported
to her and State House through Senior Officers of State. He was removed there
and relegated to some low level parastatal and succeeded by a noble gentleman
Dominic Mulaisho, now late. On his part he remembered a violent young man who “nearly
killed us during a campaign in Feira" when General Fara was standing on a UNIP
ticket. My recollection of that was quite the opposite. I was a lone ranger
surrounded by violent old wounded UNIP buffaloes.Not even the small police post could protect me. I had to protect myself. We lost that violent by-election to UNIP. Nevertheless, these narratives may
have fed into the heat that RB unleashed on me during that fateful period when
Zambia lost a President. My letter of complaint to Mabenga reveals my
preoccupation to try and defend the tenets of the MMD against a Man whose
membership to the Party was even suspect. RB was never on my Register as a member
the same way Clive Chirwa was not despite his carrying a hastely bought Party
card from someone. The National Secretary was the registrar of members and he
authenticated them. I am not sure whether RB even knew where the Party
Headquarters was. I never recall him visiting. At his core, I believed, he was
anti-MMD and UNIP if not born-again FDD.
July 30,2008
Dear Chairman Mabenga,
Re: THE
PARTY POLICY, ADMINISTRATION ISSUES AND THE CASE AGAINST BEN TETAMASHIMBA
I have been briefed by my Deputy
National Secretary about the meeting that was convened by the National Trustee,
His Honor the Vice President Mr. Rupiah Banda at Government House on 22nd
July 2008 to discuss matters related to the Party’s image of late, a meeting I
did not attend. I was not clear who convened the meeting in question but I
understood from you that you were just invited to it. I assume then it was by
our senior trustee who also wanted to brief members on the President’s health
as reported in the media and the solidarity statement to which I render my
support. Please recall that the Secretariat has sent a formal letter to the
First Lady on behalf of the Party.
I therefore want to address some
issues that appear to have vexed the minds of our members as reported to me.
1. PARTY POLICY: As I
informed you in my SMS text which I equally availed to the VP and my DNS, I
considered the consultation an informal matter which I did not want to be
misconstrued as a NEC meeting discussing Policy matters. I have had numerous queries from other NEC
members who did not attend the meeting. My position has been consistent: that
it was an informal consultation on a disciplinary matter by the National Chairman,
to whom the Secretariat had written, to convene a disciplinary committee after
charging Hon. Ben Tetamashimba. As you are aware, the full NEC in consultation
with the Party President is in charge of Policy direction. (Article 19 (b) and
Article 41(b) and in his absence, the Vice President of the Party. Article 45 (2) gives power to the
National Chairman. In the absence of both the President and Vice
President to provide Policy leadership.
2. ADMINISTRATION. Sir, our
constitution is clear, the National Secretary is the Chief Executive Officer of
the Party for supervision,
co-ordination and efficient administration of the day to day activities
of the Party (Article 46 (1)) with the clear mandate to organize and mobilize
the Party (Article 46 (2)). In addition,
the Constitution is clear that issues of discipline are an administrative
matter. In terms of day to day administration of Party discipline, this is
vested in the National Secretary by
article 52 (3) and I quote: “The power to
ensure discipline and take disciplinary action among the officers, Members and
employees of the Party shall lie with the National Secretary”. This clause
is unequivocal on the definition of “powers” to ensure discipline and to “take disciplinary action”. That power is
not vested in any other Office of the Party defined in article 41 and 42. In
doing so of course the National Secretary is guided by the Rules and
Regulations and conventions derived from this Constitutional Article. Yet any
such Subsidiary Rules and Regulations are not designed to render incompetent
the powers vested in the National Secretary on Discipline. This is so because
the term “ensure” carries the notion of “guarantee” as a “matter of honor”. It
is a “promise” the National Secretary has to make to the Party as a “word of
honor”. No other officer in the Party NEC has that burden on his or her
shoulders.
In the event of doubt regarding the
status of the New Party Constitution (as Hon Tetamashimba had tried to suggest
that it was not effective), the President agreed with the Secretariat that the
Convention is the highest organ and NEC cannot “re-approve” the amended constitution.
He directed the Secretariat to publicize it in his letter dated 10th
August 2007. The attempt to re-amend the Constitution proposed in a petition
letter to His Excellency by Hon Tetamashimba regarding President Mwanawasa
continuing as MMD President dated 13th August, 2007 and the
President’s reaction to it dated 27th August 2007 was never tabled to
the NEC after appropriate consultations at the highest level. Therefore, our
document is the authentic constitution as amended in 2005.
I heard about the arguments
proffered by Chairman Chiti and others about the limits of the powers of the
National Secretary, over the discipline of NEC members. The regulation derived
from Article 52, defines disciplinary authorities including the NEC. And he was
right in quoting clause 5 (a) which defines the NEC as a disciplinary authority
for NEC members. What Chairman Chiti did not bring to the attention of the
meeting, and which independent legal persons would clearly point out, is that
Clause 6 of the disciplinary Rules and Regulations is very clear. I quote: “The
National Secretary shall have power to direct
(emphasis is mine) any disciplinary authority to initiate disciplinary action
against any erring party member”. This Clause does not exclude NEC and that is
why only the National Secretary can proffer charges and constitute the
Disciplinary Committee to examine a case of an erring NEC member for the NEC to
take disciplinary action.
3. THE CASE OF HON. BEN
TETAMASHIMBA
The history of insubordination,
arrogance, and malicious publicity has characterized the Office of the Party
Spokesperson. In fact quite recently, on May 5th, 2008, our Party
President wrote Chairman Tetamashimba on his characteristic behaviour to my
office and I quote “ Your letter to Hon. Dr Katele Kalumba, MP., National
Secretary of the Party dated 16th January, 2008 was extremely
hostile, rude and unnecessary.” Previous communications from the President have
restricted Tetamashimba as spokesperson to clear his public statements with the
NEC and the National Secretary. He has ignored this many times.
Chairman, in the context of recent
events, the question is: What is the problem? In my view, it is not whether or
not there has arisen a crisis in the Party as such, but rather the following:
1. Tetamashimba’s
remarks on the health of the President and the need for a new leader in the
press
2. Tetamashimba’s
public attack and gravely false information regarding the National Secretary
publicized in the media during a press conference
3. Tetamashimba
misrepresenting a Party program on Women and the Youth in relation to (2) above
not only to the public but to all national Party organs
4. Answering
the question of whether a disciplinary case exists
5. Who
has constitutional authority to proffer a charge against a member, including a NEC
member
6. What
are the Regulations, conventions and procedures followed in a disciplinary
case.
7. Are
there exceptional political considerations to avoid specific disciplinary
actions
8. Who
decides on exceptions
9. What
are the political costs of any course of action
10. Is
the Party willing to bear any such costs?
Chairman, arising from the
discussions in Part 1 and 2 of this letter, I have answered most of the issues
in points 5 and 6 in the above list of issues. I address the remaining 8
issues.
The charge letter signed by my
Deputy National Secretary on behalf of my Office clearly sets out the issues in
1, 2, 3, and 4, 5 and 6. No one else but Tetamashimba made an “insensitive”
statement at a wrong time in the press which created a perception of crisis and
consequently ridicule to the Party. It angered party members, including the
women members of Lusaka province who demonstrated but were calmed down by the
Secretariat. Party leaders including Hon. Mangani, Hon Mpombo, Hon Magande and
Hon Mulongoti speaking in their various capacities condemned the statement. The
Post Newspaper carried an editorial that disregarded anyone else’s sentiments,
but supported Tetamashimba in their usual characteristic and irrational attacks
on Katele Kalumba whom they had asked to react to what they considered a rather
unusual call. That I believe bolstered
Tetamashimba to play to the gallery and proceed further to create and publicise
falsehoods about the National Secretary having “bused into Lusaka Women and
Youths from all provinces” to demonstrate against him. Thus, this National
Secretary who was calming people down and calling for prayers was “involved in
sinister schemes” against Tetamashimba and by derivation the Party and
President Mwanawasa.
Chairman, I quote the sentiments of
our Party President on such falsehoods and insults as in the case of Findlay’s
MMD DOES NOT BELONG TO LEVY’s RELATIVES,-POST “The statement certainly brings
the name of the Party into disrepute in that it suggests that Senior leadership
of the Party including myself are allowing my relatives to run the Party as a
family enterprise” (Letter to NS dated Nov 19th, 2007). Further on
the same issue following a misunderstanding that I had not written to Findlay
on his statement asking him to show cause why disciplinary action should not be
taken, His Excellency wrote “…if we are going to treat offenders with kinder
gloves, then the Party has a wrong man for its President”. You agree Chair,
these were strong sentiments magnified in the Moonga case which you are all too
familiar with.
In the case of Tetamashimba, my
Office has clearly defined the injuries and put it to the correct “Disciplinary
authority” through the provisions established by Rules and Regulations and by
Conventions, the setting up of a disciplinary committee and therefore answered
issue 5 and 6 in particular.
The question of issue 7 and 8 can
also be addressed through the case of Chairman Chumbwe. Considering both the
political and diplomatic implications and the charges proffered by the
Secretariat, NEC only asked Chumbwe to apologize for the embarrassment caused
and the Party President who was offended as a Republican President, accepted
the apology in a letter to Chumbwe dated 12 May 2008. Tetamashimba has refused
to apologize to the Party, the nation or to me as National Secretary, although
he appears to have apologized to the Mwanawasa family. He has continued to
misrepresent the Party and undermine my person and office by false and
malicious statements including efforts to try and destabilize the Party organs
in Solwezi District. I find it hard to define an exceptional circumstance which
would not require specific sanctions including a public apology to the Nation,
the Party and to my Office.
This matter is in your hands
Chairman as per the Constitution, articles which I have referred to thus
answering issue 7 and 8. But in addressing yourself to these two issues, please
try and answer the implications of inaction raised in issue 9 and 10. However,
I would like to inform you that as National Secretary and as an individual
member of the MMD and a Citizen of Zambia, I reserve the right to react should
there appear to be a “conspiracy of a dark convenience” designed to undermine
my person and my political authority in MMD.
Having put the Secretariat’s case
at length against the background of what my DNS briefed me about and what I
learnt in my telephone conversation with Chairman Chiti, my discussions in
person with you and Hon treasurer Suresh Desai, we have rested our official
case and await the Disciplinary process of NEC to act. In the meantime, our
Party organs are being informed in a public statement that until NEC decides on
the charges proffered by the Secretariat on Hon Ben Tetamashimba, he shall not
speak on behalf of the Party effective from the date the charge letter was
signed and delivered. This action is common practice. As Party Chairman who is
acting in the absence of the President (and as we have no vice Party President)
you can direct us or act arbitrarily to reconstitute the Disciplinary Committee
so that when the matter is brought to the full NEC, at some point, and if our
Party President would still be indisposed, you would not be rendered unable to
preside over the NEC meeting discussing a matter you chaired as Chairman of the
adhoc Disciplinary Committee.
Yours Sincerely
Katele Kalumba MP
National Secretary
cc. Trustee and Republican
Vice President
Vice Chairman
Deputy National Secretary
Treasurer
Vice Treasurer
Chairman, Legal
Chairman, Security
Chairman, Elections
Chairperson, Women
Chairman, Youth
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