What went wrong for MMD

Thursday 22 September 2011 will go down as the day I walked from my place of work in Ndola to my home in Lubuto. This unpleasant occurrence was not necessitated by the need for exercise or weight loss (I could actually do with some weight gain), it was rather due to my having been in a place that was restless and desperate for final election results. In fact so restless were they that they took to the streets and looting to get their message across to the Electoral Commission of Zambia.

Some hours later the ECZ duly obliged and declared Michael Sata the winner of the presidential poll to a reception of partying and wanton celebrations that went on through out the night and much of the following day. Men, women and children took to the streets and danced, ululated, made mock coffins of the losing candidate Rupiah Banda. It was the conclusion of one of the most dramatic elections in Zambia's history.

I took time to spare a thought for the losing candidate and outgoing president Rupiah Bwezani Banda or RB as he evidently preferred to be called and his party the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD). How had a party that seemed very strong under Levy Mwanawasa in 2008 gone from that position of relative strength to such weakness in three years? Below I offer my reasons.

• It must be noted that the majority of the blame, if not all of it should rest squarely with RB. He took over a party that was very strong just prior to and after Mwanawasa's death. The country had begun to witness some of the Mwanawasa economic policies begin to bear fruit, buoyed by the late president's zero tolerance towards corruption. It therefore defies logic that there was a downward spiral in not only the popularity of the MMD but the popularity of RB himself. This state of affairs should not have been left un-attended to but should have been nipped in the bud. Instead, RB let it develop till in the end he was left to resort to last ditch spur of the moment projects to try and stem the tide. In retrospect, that was tantamount to bolting the door after the horse had already left.
• The MMD was further not helped by the infamous reputation RB had acquired as someone who did not take things seriously, gloried in the vain and had arguably taken a soft stance on corruption. This was exacerbated by what he considered hostile media magnifying his every error to mountainous proportions while his successes were nonchalantly downplayed. It would appear government media tried gallantly but failed in its efforts at offsetting the damage this negative publicity had wrought.
• It is also my submission that RB failed to take the moral high ground against his opponents choosing instead to trade insults and derisory remarks with the likes of the UPND and the PF presidents. He failed to recognise that the public expects their president to rise above petty politics, nonsensical banter and be of unquestionable moral superiority. In other words, a president could be insulted but was never expected to insult back. If he did, he was expected to have the decency and presence of mind to do it in secret or in his memoirs years after leaving office. He was never expected to use crass and base language at all. Unfortunately for the MMD their president failed to recognise this.
• The general disaffection at the lack of meaningful development in the country was never fully addressed by RB and the MMD. It must be mentioned that by this time, the public had gotten tired of promises and the MMD government itself. His last minute projects were usually derided for their presumptive and insensitive nature. Most people found it appalling that RB and the MMD thought them stupid enough to be hoodwinked into parting away with their vote that easily.
• There seemed to be a disposition that stuck to RB like an incurable syphilitic rash. To many he could not be taken seriously and always came out as jocular and lacking in meaningful substance. Like an out of form actor, he was never convincing, insipid and sickeningly lacking in anythying that could be described as inspiring or stately.
• Upon assumption of the both the MMD and the country's presidency RB embarked on a systematic alienation and marginalisation of members that had erstwhile either expressed interest in challenging him or were overly sympathetic to the late president. As a result the MMD was weakened by incessant in-fighting not helped by RB's bold induction of UNIP members into the MMD. Inspite of his public procalamations in favour of a united and inclusive ruling party, such influencial members as Magande, Masebo and just recently Mangani, Mbita Chitala and Mulongoti, found themselves pushed to the fringes of the action while the likes of William Banda and Dora Siliya took centre stage. This greatly weakened MMD's national appeal and the PF fully capitalised.

Let us also spare a thought for HH and the UPND, who once again find themselves on the losing side, not that they had any chance in the last election. Even more worrying for them is that they seem to be getting weaker and are likely to be overtaken by NAREP who have the fortune of not having the tribal tag stubbornly hunging over them like some ominous cloud.

Sadly recent history does not back an MMD bounce back. The opposite is actually more likely to happen with the former ruling party likely to disintegrate and become threadbare. That is unless they can somehow restructure, find a vibrant leader and keep their core intact.

As for the new ruling party, they managed to get to plot one preaching a simple message of more money in our pockets. They should be thankful that the average Zambian rarely asks 'how'.  They have an opportunity to spearhead real change in the lives of Zambians, if they can negotiate a hung parliament and somehow pacify an unrealistically expectant public. A task they no doubt know is easier said than done.