Great orators and charismatic politicians

When he came on TV for his Zambia shall be saved programme, he oozed confidence, charisma and a high level of swagger that not many Zambian preachers in the 1990’s possessed. All his sermons were punctuated by dramatic demonstration from him to stress his points more and the congregants responded with laughter that sent ripples of approval to the preacher’s sermons. The greatest attributes that defined him were his commanding voice and his gift and ability to deliver great speeches for his sermons. In other words he was and to this day remains a great orator.

In those days I was certain in my mind that Nevers Mumba would play a big part of Zambia’s history and I imagined him being the equivalent of Zambia’s Martin Luther King Jnr. I had listened to Dr King’s famous speech, I Have A Dream, and had taken note of his legislative successes tied to the American Civil Rights Act, and Voting Rights Act passed in 1964 and 1965 respectively. What drew this comparison from me was that, as Pastor Nevers Mumba appeared more and more on TV his sermons would have political and civil awareness connotations. 

In due course, the inevitable happened and Dr Nevers Mumba formed a political party that he called National Christian Coalition. At that point Pastor Mumba would not do any wrong in my eyes. I was his greatest admirer. I have always admired people that speak assuredly. In my younger days fluency of speech and intelligence were one and the same thing. My admiration for Dr Mumba soared in 1998 when I went to Hillcrest secondary school, I was shown a bunker bed where Dr Mumba allegedly spent most of his high school nights while Dr Danny Pule ostensibly spent his nights on the opposite bunker. That was it, I was now being cut from the same cloth as Dr Mumba!

Cometh the hour cometh the man! only on his 2nd coming as president of a party
he has spent more time in court--and losing bye elections

In 2001, Nevers offered himself for president of Zambia. He was the candidate of the then, National Citizens’ Coalition Party (NCC). His message then was that Zambia needed to vote for men and women with ‘morality and integrity’. According to Dr Mumba, Zambia had the legal and democratic frameworks for prosperity but as a country we kept being pulled backwards by selfish leaders. We needed leaders of high moral standing who would uphold the integrity of the office of president, and he Dr Mumba was that man.

Some of his competitors then were madam Gwendoline Konie, Michael Sata, Anderson Mazoka, Christon Tembo, Godfrey Miyanda, Inonge Mbikusita Lewanika and Levy Patrick Mwanawasa to mention but a few. There were a total of eleven presidential candidates that year. I personally was torn between Nevers Mumba for obvious reasons, Godfrey Miyanda also one I greatly admire, Anderson Mazoka since he spoke the right words and boasted of his economics expertise claiming that was what Zambia needed and Christon Tembo simply because he was captain of the ship that had saved Zambia from a third term by Fredrick Jacob Titus Chiluba.

In that election, Levy Mwanawasa emerged victorious against many people’s expectations with a simple majority vote of just over 28.69% and Mazoka came second with 26.76%. Christon Tembo and Tilyenji Kaunda were the others who got a significant percentage of the votes, 12.96% and 9.96% respectively. The rest fared as follows; Miyanda Godfrey (7.96%), Benjamin Y. Mwila (4.84%), Michael Sata (3.35%), Nevers Mumba (2.2%), Gwendoline Konie (0.58%), Inonge Mbikusita Lewanika (0.56%) and Yobert Shamapande (0.54%). 

Mwanawasa rose to power with very little support after inheriting an MMD party that was divided by Chiluba’s third term bid. Patriotic Front (PF), Forum for Democracy & Development (FDD), Heritage Party (HP), Zambia Republican Party (ZRP) were all splinters born in the aftermath of the third term debates.

The country was heavily divided and Levy faced a mammoth task to unite the people. Everything he did was heavily criticized. Even within the MMD Mwanawasa was not popular, as many members still showed loyalty to Fredrick Chiluba and Mwanawasa was seen by many FTJ loyalists as fighting his predecessor. But Levy was a very intelligent man, and one of the things he did was to appoint Nevers Mumba a leader of an opposition party as his vice president. As a fervent Mumba supporter, this was when I started warming up to Mwanawasa’s leadership. 

Nevers did not fare well in the only national election he has contested, however,
with the MMD having a larger appeal, he was expected to head to the promised land 

The Mwanawasa-Mumba combo definitely in the early stages looked like the perfect match. Nevers was a great orator which was one aspect where Levy was heavily faulted, and he also hailed from the north where many had felt that post FTJ presidency, the people from that part of the nation were being persecuted by Levy. 

However, it was not long before Levy and Nevers eventually fell out allegedly over statements the later made when he was acting president while the president was out of the country. Without going into the details of the statements, many felt Dr Mumba had shown a high level of contempt and being over ambitious by calling a press briefing at government house (the official residence of the vice president) and give an address on the state of the nation. The true reasons for the fall out still remain shrouded in secrecy. He was fired as soon as Levy came back into the country, and the rest is history.

In the years that followed, Nevers Mumba tried to redeem his NCC which he had dissolved to merge with the MMD at his appointment as republican vice president. At some point it was reported that he had in 2006 applied to contest an election as Member of Parliament for the PF in Chinsali central constituency at that time the PF had started showing great signs of growing popularity. That never materialized and in 2008 when Rupiah Banda became president, all of a sudden Nevers Mumba was a member of the MMD and was then sent to the Foreign Service as Zambia’s ambassador in Canada. 

As it turned out, the Banda presidency would be the shortest when the MMD under his candidature lost the 2011 elections to PF. Rupiah Banda shortly after retired from politics and all of a sudden there was a vacancy for the MMD presidency. As they say, ‘cometh the hour, cometh the man’, and all of a sudden Nevers Mumba the man in Ontario was being touted as the man to take over. In due course Pastor Mumba was making his return to Zambia and a big crowd of MMD members was receiving him at Kenneth Kaunda International airport. 

It would not take long before Nevers comprehensively beat his competitors in a democratic election that was meant to serve as a platform for reorganizing the MMD. Nevers was elected as MMD president by a resounding 67%, which was even higher than the 63% that first ushered Fredrick Chiluba to the MMD presidency in the 1990’s. This time around the party had lost an election after being in power for 20 years and a lot of commentators were predicting the end of the MMD’s influence like the fate that befell UNIP the ruling party before them. 

MMD under Nevers Mumba has seen quite some turmoil in the party. In the period that Pastor Mumba has been at the helm of the MMD, the party has lost parliamentary seats to either PF or UPND, seats they held after 2011. The party has also performed poorly in local government elections to a level where they have lost control of councils they previously held by surrendering seats to their two main rivals. In addition, the two vice presidents of the party (Dr.Michael Kaingu & Dr.Brian Chituwo) together with the party spokesperson (Dora Siliya) have been at arms with the party president.

The three senior party officials have been the most vocal even though there are other members who have expressed discontent with Nevers’ leadership. The trio has been calling an extra ordinary mid-term party convention at which all party positions would be up for election. Dr Mumba has also had many supporters and sympathisers as well as a group calling themselves MMD die hard ably led by a friend of mine – Bowman Lusambo. 

My thoughts… My view...

The biggest problem with the MMD now is not Nevers Mumba but those leaders that foresaw the party’s loss of the 2011 election. The leaders I am talking of include Dora Siliya, Michael Kaingu, Brian Chituwo, Ronnie Shikapwasha to mention but few.

I could add to that list, Mike Mulongoti, the late George Kunda and the late Benny Tetamashimba. The names I have mentioned appear on my list simply because of the kind of arrogance they exhibited when they held public office as ministers in the MMD government. This arrogance in the end became the main reason why many a voter eventually decided to vote against the MMD. 

After losing the elections it was expected by many that a few members of the MMD would jump ship and join the PF as most opportunist Zambian politicians do. To them ideology matters less but what matters is being part of the ruling elite as that comes with benefits such as ministerial appointments, business contracts with government departments and many other favours such as lack of harassment from government agencies like the police. A few MMD members did cross over to the PF and in some cases causing costly bye election.

The root cause of the problems the MMD has at the moment can be traced back to the third term debate that greatly divided the party in the early 21st century. Many credible and well-meaning members left the party in defense of the party and state constitution by not tolerating the idea of a sitting president going for a third term of office disregarding the constitutional requirement of a maximum two 5 year terms.

Edith Nawakwi, Godfrey Miyanda, Christon Tembo, Chifumu Banda, Ben Mwila, Danny Pule and many others left the MMD to form splinter parties. Of course a few of them like Gen Shikapwasha eventually rejoined the MMD but they only reunited with other chancers and opportunists who added nothing more than just numbers to the MMD. In the years that followed, more people that shared little or nothing of the original ideals on which the MMD was founded infiltrated the party. These are the people whose conduct displeased Zambians more as the years rolled on. When these people eventually lost an election collectively with Ruphia Banda, they now want to point fingers at Nevers Mumba. This is typical behavior of opportunists that many of them are. The best they could do is resign and form their own political parties.

While most founding member left the MMD in the aftermath of the 3rd term debates
opportunists invaded the party and eventually took the party into opposition

MMD did take a retreat at a lodge in Chilanga at which they reportedly took a postmortem of their 2011 election loss. Having had the postmortem, I expected the likes of Michael Kaingu and Dora Siliya to take a back seat in the affairs of the MMD in the manner that Michael Mabenga has done. The action by Mr Mabenga is honourable. 

It would have been beneficial and refreshing for both the party and the individuals in question. Had these key members of the team that lost an election gone on sabbatical, I’d have expected the likes of Muhabi Lungu, Keith Mukata, Bradford Machila, Bwalya Chiti and a few members of the old clique whose images and reputation remains undented such as Felix Mutati and maybe Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane to take a front seat row on the day to day running of the MMD. This would have been a new look and rebranded MMD, but with the support and numbers of the old guard.

Alas, the same old guard that Zambians voted against was still calling the shots in the MMD. The team that was elected together with Dr Mumba was not in any way his team, it was very much an assembly of the Ruphia Banda MMD remnants. 

The mistake Nevers Mumba has made as MMD president is that even though his party took that retreat in Chilanga, they did not execute a plan for rebranding quick enough. Rebranding for the MMD would have meant sidelining the arrogant clique which Zambians grew tired of and were willing to replace with anyone as long as it wasn’t MMD. In the immediate aftermath of the MMD 2011 election loss, Ruphia Banda and most of his very last lieutenants were still very unpopular in most parts of the country.

In western province for instance, the MMD had enjoyed support and many credited the province for the party’s election victories in 2001, 2006 and 2008. However, in 2011 the province was shared with the PF and UPND, as the MMD lost the majority margins they previously held. One of the reasons the MMD lost popularity in western province was the manner in which the cabinet in January 2010 handled the case of a group of individuals that had wanted to hold a meeting at the Mongu blue gum grounds to discuss and understand the issues surrounding the Barotse agreement issue.

The government sent a group of policemen from other parts of the country (possibly soldiers included), who went to stop that meeting from taking place and a mini riot ensued. Two lives were lost immediately while others died later in hospital. What angered the locals the most was the arrogance with which cabinet ministers defended police action of shooting at unarmed youth. Then home affairs minister Mkondo Lungu, Vice president George Kunda, information minister Ronnie Shikapwasha took turns to defend police action. A story was coined that those who were shot and killed on the spot had tried to set a local filling station ablaze.

The damage caused by the police did not end with the killings and injuries to the local people. By the time they were pulled out of the area, close to 30 girls from a local basic school where the police camped in one of the class rooms had gotten pregnant. Reports in the press suggested that some of the girls had consented to the sexual acts, but most were forced and raped. Close to 30 children were going to be born and would never know even just least of all the names of their fathers.

These events were a turning point for the MMD in western province, and the likes of Michael Kaingu, Michael Mabenga, Situmbeko Musokotwane and all Lozi speaking members of that cabinet were heavily criticized for supporting such criminal acts against their own people. But it seems the retreat the MMD took was devoid of any postmortem or else they would have found out all this.

Recently the MMD lost the Katuba parliamentary seat which they held before and after 2011. Again, they lost this seat because they did not do their homework properly. In 2011 Jonas Shakafuswa who had held the seat under the MMD contested the seat under UPND and lost to MMD’s Dr Chikusu, but recently Mr Shakafuswa won the seat back under the UPND after the incumbent died. Though the people of katuba felt that Shakas had been part of the arrogant MMD and did not vote for him in 2011, the time elapsed since convinced most of them that he was better off. He was one of them and is always attending funerals in the area and contributing financial help during funerals something that never happened with Dr Chikusu. Katuba is a rural constituency and an effort such as attending funerals is highly appreciated.

In a nut shell, all these mistakes that the MMD has made are all under the leadership of Nevers Mumba and he must shoulder the blame. But the man is shouldering a bigger load than he is responsible for. The members of the MMD who were cabinet members in the last government must shoulder the biggest load. In fact they should step away from the lime light to enable the party to start afresh and re-launch itself.

The MMD under pastor Mumba is also making another grave mistake which Ruphia Banda did, fighting sections of the press. It is folly for any right thinking politician to engage in battle with a media house. The media should be embraced no matter how critical they are of the actions of politicians. If those letters that are making rounds on the internet purportedly authored by Muhabi are anything to go by, he has done written his political demise and we can start preparing eulogies for a promising political career that never realized its full potential because of ego.

I wrote a blog last year in which I supported the appointment of Muhabi Lungu as presidential media officer for Nevers Mumba and believed it was cardinal for a party that was increasingly being seen to exhibit a high degree of indiscipline as any member gave out statements to the media at will. I also support Muhabi’s election to position of national secretary but he is best advised not to wage war against any sections of the media. He can take heed from Michael Sata who went down that route and later changed course.

Many Zambians do not want the MMD to go down the road that has befallen UNIP to an extent where the party has no representation in parliament any more. Mistakes they have collectively made aside, Nevers Mumba is the best suited individual now present in the MMD who can help save the party from going into oblivion. He is not tainted with the arrogance, filthy and perceived corruption that made the MMD unpopular.  Nevers Mumba has the charisma to draw people to him and believe his message and he has the oratory skills to drive this message across. Maybe, and just maybe… the MMD shall be saved under Pastor Nevers Mumba.  

“This is a world of compensation; and he who would be no slave must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God, cannot long retain it.”

  - Abraham Lincoln