DICKSON JERE, Lusaka | Wednesday
THE political rift widened within Zambia’s ruling party on Tuesday after a court stopped President Frederick Chiluba ousting over 200 rivals to his unconstitutional re-election bid.
Chiluba’s Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) was to vote on Tuesday on a resolution to kick out more than 200 members who had boycotted a key MMD party convention – including Zambian Vice President Chritson Tembo, MMD party Vice President Godfrey Miyanda, 10 cabinet ministers and an estimated 60 lawmakers.
But a Lusaka High Court judge issued a temporary injunction late on Monday that put the vote on hold until a hearing set for Friday, lawyer Mutembo Nchito said.
Nchito represents a faction of the MMD headed by Vice President Tembo, who has been a vocal opponent of Chiluba’s efforts to amend the constitution to allow him to stand for a third term in elections scheduled for late this year.
The MMD national convention, which opened last Friday and was still underway on Tuesday, backed Chiluba’s bid for extended power.
But Tembo’s faction complained that convention organisers blacklisted them from the proceedings and stacked the vote in Chiluba’s favour by handpicking the delegates who would be allowed to vote.
“We, the leaders who oppose the amendment of the constitution, will employ every legal means to stop the president from going for another term of office,” Labour Minister Edith Nawakwi, who has become a representative for Tembo’s camp, told a news conference.
Tembo and over 200 top party members boycotted the convention. Most walked out on Saturday in protest after three government ministers were beaten the previous night in attacks that delayed the start of the rally.
MMD Vice President Miyanda, who had intended to run against Chiluba in the party leadership contest, also joined the boycott and left the president unopposed.
Chiluba’s supporters have retaliated against the protest by proposing to kick all the boycotters out of the party.
The move would boost Chiluba’s efforts to strip Zambia’s constitution of its two-term limit because the 60-odd MMD lawmakers who have vowed to vote against amending the constitution would lose their seats in parliament if they lost their party membership.
More than 80 of Zambia’s 158 parliamentarians have signed a petition vowing to oppose the amendment, including about 60 MMD deputies, 20 opposition members and a handful of independents.
Chiluba needs either to obtain a two-thirds majority in parliament to pass the amendment or to put the amendment to a vote in a national referendum.
The president swept to office 10 years ago on a wave of popular support, after a campaign in which he preached democracy and support for a two-term presidential limit.
Tembo’s dissident MMD faction has won wide support from religious and civic groups, businesses and donors, who have all urged Chiluba not to seek re-election.
Hundreds of students protested against the MMD convention’s decision to support Chiluba at the University of Zambia campus on Tuesday. Police were deployed on campus to prevent the students taking to the streets of Lusaka. – AFP