Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has suspended the national secretary of his ruling party for insubordination, state radio said on Wednesday.
Mwanawasa said he had decided to suspend national secretary Vernon Mwaanga after he refused to reinstate a deputy minister.
Mwaanga had suspended the minister from the governing Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) for alleging that senior officials were plotting to bring down the government, the radio said.
The suspension of Mwaanga comes in the wake of serious internal fighting within the MMD, with one faction supporting Mwanawasa and the other remaining loyal to former leader Frederick Chiluba.
But privately-owned daily The Post quoted Mwaanga as saying he had voluntarily decided to quit as MMD national secretary, alleging undemocratic tendencies within the ruling party of the southern
African nation.
”Time to move on has come. After consultation with members of my family, I have decided to resign as national secretary of the MMD and chairman for information and publicity,” The Post quotes
Mwaanga as saying. – Sapa-AFP