The National Party Chairman and
Acting Party President
MMD
Lusaka
Monday October 6, 2008
Dear Chairman,
RE: DECISION-MAKING IN THE PARTY AND
MANAGEMENT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
I have decided to write you on the above referenced subject
as a matter of record and for the benefit of the Presidential Candidate, His
Excellency Mr. Rupiah Banda. The core issue that drives me to write is the
principle of sincerity and truth in the management of MMD.
By whatever forces of coincidence, the following people
found themselves at the Campaign Centre on 5th October, 2008 in one
office and engaged in a debate about the goings-on in the campaign: These were:
1.
Hon. M. Mabenga: National Chairman and Acting
Party President
2.
Hon. Kabinga Pande, Deputy National Chairman
3.
Hon. Ben Tetamashimba, Party Spokesman and
Presidential Election Agent
4.
Mr. Patrick Musonda, National Youth Chairman
5.
Katele Kalumba MP, National Secretary
6.
M. Jeff Kaande, Deputy National Secretary
A number of issues touching upon the following were raised:
1.
Problems related to the Campaign Structure and
its performance in the Provinces
2.
Performance of the Campaign Manager, Hon. Mike
Mulongoti in providing leadership to the Campaign Teams
3.
Campaign Funding, resourcing and materials
distribution
4.
Presidential Candidate’s Campaign program
management
5.
Strategies in our campaign regarding imaging the
candidate and mobilizing support from various political constituents and
interest groups
6.
The strength of the opposition in various
provinces and the question of targeting our campaign
After considerable debate, some specific decisions were
reached and the key ones I was asked to act upon were:
1.
That Hon. Kabinga Pande, our Deputy National
Chairman, was to take over from Hon. Mike Mulongoti in order to overcome
increasing complaints from within the Party and outside. Some reasons advanced
were that the Campaign was beginning to falter for lack of leadership by the
Campaign Manager. There has been no systematic coordination of the Campaign
Committee and the rank and file of our members felt alienated by the people at
the Campaign Centre. That the evolution of parallel campaign structures
operating from many points is testimony of the failure to harmonize and
strategize. The role of the Campaign Manager was to evolve strategies that
respond to the opportunities or obstacles in the Campaign. All the members
present agreed that Hon. Kabinga Pande’s demeanor and public relations training
would bring harmony in the campaign and address media attacks on our Party
campaign.
2.
That in order to overcome the problem of
alienation of the cadres, Mr. Jeff Kaande should deputize the Campaign Manager
and assume much of what Mr. Mbita Chitala has been doing. The meeting
recognized the complaints against Mr. Chitala from Party members but accepted
that his role will need to be re-defined by the Campaign Committee.
3.
Because
Lusaka and the Copperbelt carry major voting strength, it is important that
these be beefed up by senior leaders. Hence Hon. Mulongoti would be deployed to
the Copperbelt, whilst Hon. Namugala would be retained in Lusaka.
4.
The tension between the Luapula Provincial
Minister Hon. Musosha and Mr. Norman Chibamba, in the absence of the Provincial
Chairman, was creating a problem for coordination in the campaign in Luapula.
The Party needed a person who would be accepted by both. I proposed Mr. Jazzman
Chikwakwa and the meeting agreed because of his past association with the
Province and the initial positive reaction to his having been proposed to coordinate
Luapula when the campaign team was configured.
5.
That the Party Treasurer focuses on general
Party finance mobilization and policy for accountability and allow Ms. Agness
Ngoma to deal with the day to day administration of campaign funds.
6.
That The Party Chairman and National Secretary
be based in the base provinces but provide backstop support to the respective
regions as well as avail themselves periodically to accompany the Candidate.
7.
That Hon. Pande would together with the
Committee deal with the details of administration.
I was requested to write to all the concerned individuals about
the senior Party leadership decisions. However, before I could write and after
the meeting, I called Hon. Tetamashimba aside and suggested that he briefs the
Presidential Candidate as a matter of procedure and protocol. He however
suggested that I, as National Secretary, should instead brief the candidate
because these were major policy decisions.
I called Government House and was cleared by the ADC and Mr.
William Banda who met me at the gate. I briefed the candidate who, in spite of
his pending appointment to go to the Memorial service, spared the moment for my
brief. He raised certain points after my brief. The first was whether Hon.
Mulongoti had attended the meeting. I said he had not, but that I intended to
inform him of the decisions made. He encouraged me to do so and requested that
since he had already asked Hon. Mulongoti to accompany him to Southern
Province, he be allowed to do so before he goes to the Copperbelt. The second
point was whether the Party Treasurer would not be a necessary person to keep
in his current role. I explained that we wanted to separate the policy and
administration functions and Mr. Desai would provide oversight without
micromanaging campaign funding. I added, after we shared agreement over the proposals
that I was now left to do the “shoe polishing work” of telling those involved.
I called Hon. Mike Mulongoti immediately after leaving Government
House and we agreed that we meet at Parliamentary Motel where he was also
meeting Hon. Desai. By coincidence, I met Hon. Musosha at the Motel and
explained the impeding changes in the Province. He readily understood and
accepted the idea of Mr. Chikwakwa. When Hon. Mulongoti arrived, I briefed him
of the decision and my brief to the candidate including his appeal that Hon.
Mulongoti still proceed to the Southern Province. Hon Mulongoti was gracious, obliged to the
changes and suggested that I ask Jazzman Chikwakwa and Hon. Mpombo to brief him
fully on what they had done so far on the Copperbelt before Mr. Chikwakwa would
leave for Luapula.
I rushed back to the Campaign Centre to prepare the letters
and Press Statement. I also tried to reach Mr. Chikwakwa by phone. While
finalizing these letters and the Press release, I was unexpectedly saddled with
the angry flare-up of Eastern province MPs over campaign funds and materials.
Sherry Thole and Agness Ngoma asked me to intervene and Mr. Mbushi came in to
help explain the background. In the process, I did not continue trying to reach
Mr. Chikwakwa until after the news broke on ZNBC when he called me pleading
that he be kept on the Copperbelt because in his words “I have laid my
foundation”. I told him that if that was in reference to 2011, that was the
main reason we were moving him to support his brothers in Luapula to avoid the
reports we were receiving against him. He promised to call again the following
day.
After addressing and resolving the Eastern Province issue, I
left the Campaign Centre around 21hrs. Ambassador Mbita Chitala called me expressing
disquiet at the announced changes. He said they were impolitic; insensitive to
the Lamba vote and believed that the decisions had totally mishandled Hon.
Mulongoti and himself. He bemoaned the fact that Hon. Kabinga Pande could not
be his supervisor because he ,(quote) “insulted me when I was in Libya over the
Pan-African issue”; Chitala felt unwanted. I tried to assure him that the
Party’s interests were considered first and nothing personal was implied. MMD
needed to stem-off the pressure by these changes and his government problems
over pan-Africanism was not relevant to this campaign. He sounded
uncompromising even when I said nothing had been said about him specifically. I
reminded him that he had quite recently proposed that I take over the campaign
from Mulongoti as National Secretary in order to respond to the calls by party
members because of the faltering in the campaign. He was unyielding in his protest and I sensed
from his statements, that he had been misinformed that he was “not wanted in
the campaign team”.
A few minutes after talking to Mbita Chitala, Hon
Tetamashimba called expressing anxiety about the statement and asking me
whether I had explained to Hon Mike Mulongoti. I was surprised because I had
informed him and Mr. Jeff Kaande after my meeting with Mr. Mulongoti. I
re-confirmed to Hon. Tetamashimba my interaction with Hon. Mulongoti and his
reaction. He said he understood but wanted me to speak to Hon Mulongoti again
using Ben Tetamashimba’s cell phone because Hon. Mulongoti did not have
airtime. I never received any further calls.
Today, Hon. Pande called me in response to my query as to
what was going on and confirmed having talked to Chairman Mabenga who appeared
to have forgotten what was discussed and was suggesting that the proposal was
for the Deputy National Chairman to take over the functions of Mbita Chitala!
He was as shocked as I was when he told me. Before 17hrs, a reporter from the
Daily Mail called stating that they had received a statement signed by Hon
Tetamashimba citing consultations with the National Chairman and Presidential
Candidate reversing decisions made yesterday, and which I had the authority as
National Secretary to announce. I tried desperately to reach the entourage in
Southern Province and understand what was going on and explain the confusion
such a statement would cause given the way the Party and the public in general
had received the “re-alignments” in the campaign. I failed. When I got through
it was news on ZNBC and cadres were calling asking what had gone wrong with the
campaign.
Mr. Chairman, this is the record. I hope and pray that the
actions we have all taken were meant in good faith and that we have been
sincere not only to ourselves as Party leaders but also to the candidate. I do
pray that we have made decisions for no other motive but to help our Candidate
win. I have, as I had warned during the meeting, decided not to continue to
participate in similar meetings on the campaign but instead will concentrate on
campaigning in my area because I do not like to be part of a team that cannot
stand up for its actions. I believe in telling the truth and standing up for
it. We cannot afford to be deceptive as national leaders and misguide each
other. We cannot afford to fail to come together to revise our decisions if we
believe a mistake has been made. Above all, we need to assume collective
responsibility as MMD leaders for those decisions we have been party to instead
of scape-goating. It is not very ethical to escape responsibility. It is not
politics at all. It is a negation of leadership.
Sincerely,
Katele Kalumba MP
cc MMD Presidential
Candidate
cc Deputy National Chairman
cc Chairman Elections
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