.MUMBA

By PHELILE MWANDILA –

THE MMD has conceded defeat in the Mangango Constituency by-elections and has congratulated for ruling Patriotic Front (PF) for emerging victorious.
MMD President Nevers Mumba said the performance of the party in the August 19, 2014 Mangango Parliamentary by-elections was a huge disappointment.
He said, however, the party would not lose hope as a result of the defeat, but that drastic measures would have to be taken in order to reverse the situation.
“Let me begin by conceding defeat in all the seats we lost and congratulating the Patriotic Front for winning the Mangango Constituency by-elections.
“The performance of the of MMD party in the August 19, 2014 Mangango Parliamentary by-elections and the 21 wards we participated in, have clearly been a huge disappointment to me and all well-meaning members of MMD who care deeply about the party,” he said.
Dr Mumba said this during a Press Briefing at MMD secretariat in Lusaka yesterday.
Dr Mumba said the party had spent the last two and half years in unproductive struggles as it delayed in its transition from being a ruling party to an opposition political party and that this greatly negatively impacted on the party’s performance.
He said the party needed to begin afresh by re-organising it structures so that it may be better aligned for future battles.
He said the alignment was not meant to seek blame or punish any anyone but merely to recognise the reality that the party needed to remark itself due to its poor performance in the just ended by-elections.
Dr Mumba said the party had already engaged its senior members and its National Executive Committee (NEC) so that the total re-organisation process would be done quickly and efficiently.
He urged party members to be focused in an attempt to make the re-organisation  process possible and further warned that anyone within the party wishing to use the defeat in Mangango by-elections to make selfish public sentiments would not be tolerated.