wfn.org | Church Leaders in Zambia Comment on December 2001 Elections

[George Conklin <gconklin@igc.org>]

EDICISA NEWS
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Opposition political parties kiss dust
By Moses Chitendwe

THE Opposition political parties in Zambia should blame themselves for loosing
the presidential elections on December 27, 2001 to the newly elected ruling
Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) Republican President Levy Mwanawasa.
Mwanawasa, a prominent Lusaka lawyer and State Council (SC) becomes Zambia's
Third Republican President to former President, Dr Kenneth Kaunda, and founding
father of Zambia's independence in 1964. Then succeeded by the just retired MMD
President Frederick Chiluba in October 1991. Mwanawasa was President Chiluba's
first Vice-President in 1991, but resigned in 1994 because of the sudden
emergency of corruption in the MMD government. He was recalled by President
Chiluba to stand as MMD presidential candidate as the only credible person to
win back the MMD in power.

If anything, the opposition parties owe the Church in Zambia a big apology for
making things very easy for the MMD to win back power through Mwanawasa. It was
unfortunate that the opposition failed to heed the clarion call on them by the
Church to unity and float one presidential candidate in the just ended December
27, 2001 Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government
elections. The heavy tumble and emasculation of the opposition political
parties in the tripartite elections is a heavy price they have paid and a 
bitter
pill they should swallow for lack of vision and sense of unity. It was
unthinkable that against one MMD presidential candidate the opposition parties
in their quest for individual power decided to field 10 presidential 
candidates,
thereby dangerously splitting their votes in an election which had a very big
voting turnout.

Prior to the elections, many prominent church leaders in Zambia were
disappointed at the last minute collapse of the well intended discussions by
some opposition parties on the need to unite under the umbrella of a Government
of National Unity (GNU) under which they were to float one presidential
candidate.
Regional Superintendent of the Church of God World Mission in Central Africa,
Bishop John Mambo of Lusaka accurately predicted the outcome of the election
results in favour of the MMD because of the sharp divisions in the opposition,
saying:
"I am not a prophet of doom because if the opposition are not careful, the MMD
will bounce back in power, not because people would want that, but because of
the greedy for power by those clamouring for the republican presidency. "The
nation is very disappointed with the opposition parties who are obsessed with
selfishness for individual power and cannot see the sense and
value of coming together under one formidable force that would win them a clear
majority in the decisive 2001 elections."
Mambo warned the opposition in advance "whether win or lose to accept the
outcome of the election results because we are God-fearing as a Christian 
nation
who want to leave in peace and harmony."

Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) Executive Director, Bishop Paul Mususu
also warned the opposition that as long as they did not put the interest of the
nation first other than their individual political parties, their expected
performance in the elections would be 0disastrous. Supporting the aborted 
GNU as
a good idea, Bishop Mususu said, "There is no way the opposition parties could
be expected to perform well in the elections
when they are campaigning individually. This is a pipe dream."
Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) Secretary-General at the Catholic Secretariat
in Lusaka Father Ignatius Mwebe, had a word of caution to the oppositionwhen he
said, the stampede by the opposition to State House in Lusaka was very worrying
to the Catholic Church.
Fr Mwebe, who was asked to arbitrate in the aborted GNU talks, said: "We can
see this stampede to State House, which makes people to be politically
intoxicated with power. It was a very disappointing end in that after all the
ground work on the GNU
was done to a successful end on how the opposition were going to share the
Parliamentary seats, the involved opposition parties decided to pull out and go
alone in the elections."

As lame ducks, the vanquished opposition parties now cry foul that the
elections were rigged. In the forefront of such claims is no other than the
runner-up to Mwanawasa, United Party for National Development, (UPND) Anderson
Mazoka. Mazoka and some opposition leaders forced their way on a non-working
Sunday, December 30, 2001 to complain to the Chief Justice, Matthew Ngulube
about the alleged electoral irregularities.

In the delegation were the splinter from the MMD, the Forum for Democracy and
Development (FDD) president and former MMD Vice-President Lieutenant-General
Christon Tembo, Pastor Nevers Mumba of the National Citizen-s Coalition (NCC)
and UNIP's Tilyenji.
Others were the Patriotic Front (PF) leader, former MMD national secretary and
Minister Without Portfolio, Michael Sata and the Heritage Party (HP) president,
another former Vice-President in the MMD government, Brigadier-General, Godfrey
Miyanda.
The leaders of these opposition parties have declared not to accept the
presidential results and are in the process of filing a joint petition in the
Supreme Court to challenge Mwanawasa's election. According to Tembo, "The 
bottom
line is that the whole thing was fraudulent and as FDD, we will not accept the
results. We will have to jack up things and we will do it." For the loosing
Mazoka, he was overwhelmingly beaten in second position with the difference of
about 34,000 votes: "The voting process was not as smooth as it should have
been." Mazoka, who has confessed that he is a bitter man for losing the
elections have vowed that he will use all every means available to ensure that
the Mwanawasa government is out office before the next five years is out. 
Mazoka
and other opposition leaders, have called for peaceful civil disobedience
throughout the country to register disapproval of the results, but President
Mwanawasa has warned, in no uncertain terms, that such treasonable action 
by the
opposition part
ies that transgresses the law and would be dealt with very ruthlessly. Mazoka,
however, realises the folly by the opposition for their disunity in the
elections, bemoaning, "despite the opposition dividing the vote, the UPND could
have won the day if the elections were not rigged, but this has taught us a
lesson. "There has been a realization that if we were together, it could have
been a different story. You will see greater unity in the next round than
before."

Mwanawasa has not taken kindly of the leaders of the opposition political
parties who are hell-bent on creating despondency in the country and 
destabilise
the peace and stability Zambia has continued to enjoy for many years since the
country's first hard-won independence in 1964. Speaking during his maiden
Presidential speech at the swearing-in ceremony at the Supreme Court in Lusaka
on January 1, and later at the first Press Conference at State House on January
7, 2002 Mwanawasa warned, in no uncertain terms, that the law will deal
ruthlessly with those trying to cause despondency in the nation for losing the
elections. " I will not be President if I fail to deal firmly with those 
bent on
fanning anarchy and despondency in the country over the results of the
presidential elections," He has declared.