The cause of MMD’s disintegration

File: Banda (r) with Nevers Mumba when Banda handed over

The news is that there is increasing rebellion against Nevers Mumba leader of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), writes Dr. Munyonzwe Hamalengwa for Zambian Eye.

The root causes of the MMD’s disintegration are not far or hard to unearth. Before I point out what these are, it must be emphatically mentioned that the MMD was very lucky to rule Zambia for twenty years. The reason they ruled for that long is that they were the only credible alternative after so many years of President Kaunda’s leadership under UNIP. Kaunda had dissipated the strong contenders for power in powerful personalities like Harry Nkumbula and Simon Kapwepwe.

It is now contended that Rupiah Banda has destroyed the MMD. However, Rupiah is just but the latest manifestation or causes of the MMD’s disappearance. It started with President Chiluba’s bid for a third term rulership. When that failed he awoke Levy Mwanawasa from retirement and made him President when Michael Sata was supposed to succeed him. Sata immediately formed his own party which gained power ten years later. Mwanawasa became the first accidental president in Zambian history. He didn’t secure the presidency by his own design like Kaunda, Chiluba and Sata did years later.

The MMD then embarked on an uncharted territory of importing total outsiders to be leaders of MMD when Mwanawasa invited a defeated Nevers Mumba who had his own party, to be vice-president of Zambia under the MMD. If Mumba had been vice-president when Mwanawasa died, Mumba would have been the second accidental vice-president of Zambia.

Mwanawasa went ahead and invited a non-MMD and retired UNIP politician Rupiah Banda to be vice-president after he dismissed Mumba. This made Banda the second accidental president of Zambia when Mwanawasa died in office. How could a non-MMD president who did not owe any allegiances to the MMD carry the mantle of the MMD? Rupiah had no qualms in abandoning the MMD ticket in the 2015 elections to campaign for PF. He was after all ferreted from being a retired UNIP stalwart to being MMD vice-president and then MMD president of the country. His MMD credentials were not original.

When the MMD lost power, Mumba became the head of the MMD, a person who had been heading his own party before Mwanawasa invited him to be vice-president of Zambia, under MMD without first ascertaining the depth of his MMD credentials, if any. Thus the root causes of MMD slippage are visible.

This brief history of the MMD is necessary in order to remind us that the death of the MMD may be caused by outsiders imposed from outside to be the insider leaders. Mumba is now left holding the bag containing the ruins of the MMD ticket.

In the meantime, Acting President Scott became the third accidental president of Zambia and my opinion as well is that President Lungu became the fourth accidental president of Zambia. Without the death of President Sata, this might not have happened. So we have had three authentic presidents in Zambia: Kaunda, Chiluba and Sata. Lungu could pass either as authentic as he won the 20th January 2015 vote or as accidental because that was made possible only because of the death of President Sata. Accidental presidents are Mwanawasa, Banda, Scott and under the caveat stated above, Lungu. Lungu has an opportunity to claim his authenticity in 2016.

The death or life of the MMD will be revealed as well in the 2016 elections.