Chiluba drive hits snag

HUMPHREY NKONDE
Correspondent | Friday July 2, 2010 00:00

And ruling Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) political and development consultant, who is also a former president Frederick Chiluba is facing some resistance on the Copperbelt.

It is the first time that Zambia will embark on a continuous voters' registration exercise. Under the old system, the ECZ would establish voter registration points at schools, clinics, churches and other institutions where eligible voters registered.

The electoral office has now acquired mobile registration kits to achieve door-to-door enrolment  besides the exercise being continuous.

In 2008 some eligible voters were disfranchised during the presidential by-election following  the death of president Levy Mwanawasa because of the intermittent voter registration system.  The ECZ used the 2006 voters' register to conduct the 2008 by-election that confirmed Rupiah Banda in his post as the countries presidentA new register could not have been achieved within 90 days that the current constitution stipulates for the presidential by-election to be held upon the death of a sitting president.

And before the continuous voters' registration exercise could start, political parties have embarked on strategies aimed at galvanising support prior to next year's elections. The MMD has engaged second president Chiluba as its consultant. But the move has been met with some resistance particularly on the Copperbelt.

Last month, the MMD announced that Chiluba was its political and development consultant.  Chiluba's first assignment was Luapula Province, where he hails from and a Patriotic Front (PF) stronghold. The reception he got was hostile.

The former president this month shifted to the Copperbelt, another PF stronghold, and unlike the past when he was popular, he received resistance from Kitwe and Ndola residents. Chiluba was booed in various townships in Kitwe - where he grew up - and the same thing happened when he appeared unannounced in Ndola's Chifubu Township. PF Member of Parliament  (MP) Benson Mwamba died early this month. The impending by-election in Chifubu is a barometer test for next year's election.

The MMD claims that the PF has lost popularity on the Copperbelt whereas this second largest political party has entered into an electoral pact with the United Party for National Development (UPND).

The PF and UPND recently officially launched the pact in the capital Lusaka. Using a single candidate, the PF/UPND pact has managed to grab two National Assembly seats from the MMD within the last six months. It is expected that the two parties will field a single presidential candidate in the 2011 election.

Chifubu Constituency is important in Zambian politics. During the colonial days European housewife Mary Burton was killed by Africans at the height of the liberation struggle in the then Northern Rhodesia. This was also the springboard for the late Mwanawasa who was its first MP when the MMD routed President Kenneth Kaunda's United National Independence Party  (UNIP) in the 1991 multiparty elections.

Mwanawasa was appointed vice-president when he was MP for Chifubu and he continued to represent the constituency even after he resigned from government in July 1994.

In the early days of the MMD, Chifubu was in the hands of the MMD, but it changed hands after the Michael Sata-led PF became stronger prior to the 2006 tripartite elections.

Although other political parties would contest the by-election in Chifubu, the battle will be squarely between the MMD and PF/UPND pact.

The task for the MMD is not only to wrestle the seat from the PF, but also to prove that the Copperbelt is no longer an opposition stronghold.

Apart from the Chifubu by-election being a barometer test for the political parties in next year's general elections, the other aspect is that a split within the MMD could be possible as early as the beginning of next year.

The ruling party has just blacklisted two former ministers in Mwanawasa's government, Ng'andu Magande (Finance) and George Mpombo (Defence).

It has issued a statement saying that the two former ministers would not be adopted in their respective constituencies for next year's elections. Magande had challenged President Banda in 2008 during the party's search for a presidential candidate after Mwanawasa died.

Banda defeated Magande in the election that was conducted by the MMD's national national executive committee. After Banda ascended to power following the October 30, 2008 election, he dropped Magande as minister but retained Mpombo as minister of defence.

Although Mpombo was retained by President Banda, he decided to resign from his ministerial  position last year.Immediately afterwards, Mpombo called for a national convention at which the MMD should select the presidential candidate for next year's election.

Like Magande, Mpombo has been issuing statements against the ruling MMD. He has even predicted that the MMD 'would not win the Chifubu by-election under President Banda' despite the Chiluba factor.(Sila Press Agency)