LUSAKA (dpa) – In preparation for his third term presidential bid at the end of the year, Zambian President Frederick Chiluba has begun purging his cabinet of those considered formidable opponents and obstacles.
According to senior cabinet and State House sources, this charismatic and former trade unionist has lined up three of his top ministers, including vice president Christen Tembo for demotion and removal from government because of their alleged influence in the party and campaign for the presidency.The two other ministers are his fellow trade unionist and information minister Newstead Zimba who hails from the east and local government minister and chief party electoral officer Ackson Sejani who comes from the south.Chiluba is said to be masterminding a scheme to deport Tembo to Malawi before the ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) national convention to be held at a dater within the next 60 days. Tembo comes from the east and is said to have considerable support from the key party members who vote at the national convention.According to some of his top advisers, who are baffled with Chiluba’s change of mind to run for another term when his second and last five-year term expires next December, his decision has come as a surprise.“We did not expect this turnabout, not at this level,” they said.However, this is not so with the rest of the Zambian population many of whom have always believed Chiluba would amend the republican constitution and run for a third term despite his repeated pronouncements that he would respect the rule of law.Until recently, Chiluba had been championing respect for the national constitution and rule of law while maintaining that he would step down when his time comes to leave office.But of late he refuses to state if he still stands by his earlier statements regarding the third term and tells journalists to stop asking “silly questions”.He recently publicly chastised his strong party manager Michael Sata at a party election over the same issue, and has cautioned his party leaders against stifling the on-going debate in the party, which is mostly about his third term bid.Chiluba two years ago banned campaigning for the top posts in the MMD in preparation for this year’s general elections, saying that it would derail the governments’ programmes.This ban led to subsequent mass expulsions and suspensions of party members believed to be secretly campaigning for the presidency. But with less than 10 months to go before the general elections, Chiluba has not yet announced his successor.Calls from mostly young people in his party to have him stand for the presidency have been mounting. But at the on-going nationwide party election campaigns, those deemed to be his staunch supporters have been losing crucial campaign seats to members thought to back Tembo and other incumbents.Most reports in the state-owned media now claim that most traditional chiefs support the third term bid. The church, which played a pivotal role in ushering him into office ten years ago, has however, categorically refused to support his third term bid and made their position clear.The three mother church bodies, the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia, Christian Council of Zambia and the Catholics Zambia Episcopal Conference have advised Chiluba not to seek re-election.But despite all the heated calls for Chiluba to run for a third term, which will require amending both his party and the country’s constitution, a wide section of Zambians, including a sizeable proportion of his party members, do not want him to run for office.And in the wake of the slaying of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) leader Laurent Kabila, Chiluba has been advised to take heed the assassination incident in the neighbouring country.Everyone’s interest, including that of the donor community and other development partners, now lies in the MMD’s forthcoming national convention where new leaders are expected to be elected.Chiluba will either step down to assume a more advisory position and announce his successor or a “referendum” will be conducted to decide if he continues as party president and therefore republican president.
