DEFENCE minister Geoffrey Mwamba has challenged those against endorsing President Michael Sata as the Patriotic Front’s (PF) republican presidential candidate in 2016 to disclose the name of their preferred candidate.
Mr Mwamba said in an interview in Kafue yesterday that there was nothing wrong with anyone endorsing Mr Sata as their 2016 presidential candidate.
“Even those that are against his candidacy are free not to support the endorsement and we are not stopping them because they have the right to have a different view in the party and that is healthy. But what we are interested in is to know who their preferred candidate is,” he said.
He said it was not automatic that Mr Sata could re-contest the presidency in 2016, as the party would go for a national convention to give a fresh mandate to the leaders or usher in new ones. He said if it was automatic, the party manifesto could have stated so, so that he could run for 10 years.
He said it was for this reason that they had started the campaign for the President to re-contest the 2016 elections.
“All those that are campaigning are doing so within the party manifesto and there is nothing sinister about endorsing Mr Sata to re-contest in 2016,” he said.
Mr Mwamba also brushed aside assertions that campaigning for the 2016 presidential candidate was too early as the party was only two years in Government but should instead concentrate on developing the nation.
“It’s not too early to start campaigns for 2016 especially for the presidential candidate because the first day we got into office campaigns started,” he said.
He was happy that many Patriotic Front (PF) members in various constituencies and provinces had joined the campaign to endorse Mr Sata for presidency.
Meanwhile, PF members in Kalulushi district have endorsed President Michael Sata as the sole candidate for the 2016 general elections.
District chairman Nathan Chileshe said Zambia was on the right path under the leadership of President Sata.
Mr Chileshe, who led youths from both Kalulushi and Chambishi areas in a solidarity march to support the President, said the district had already started organising itself to secure a landslide victory for President Sata in 2016.
He said Zambia was on a right path to national prosperity because of President Sata’s developmental policies throughout the country such as roads, schools, clinics and hospitals.
“It is clear that President Sata is our sole candidate for the 2016 elections because of his sound development policies in sectors such as the road network, Education, Health and many others,” he said.
Mr Chileshe urged all well meaning members to work hard to consolidate the party and transform the country’s economy.
And what is i havent bloody lost saying, is he standing or not?
The fact that we are discussing who will be in power come 2016 simply means we do not have a proper SYSTEM that will ensure the best candidate gets into office.
PF need to have a national convention asap and the ECZ has a duty to not only monitor national elections, but to ensure that intra-party democracy is maintained.
@GBM, man the LT bloggers want to endorse NOSTRADAMUS, for PF opposition.
I helped bring down Kabimba. But on Sata …hmmmmmn I like to have to have him where he is, he keep us entertained, kaili bola twalilusa kale.
Yes you Kabimba bring your candidate. GBM brought his, LT-bloggers brought theirs…. anyone come out.. ubuntungwa kuipela we mwine.
@NVZ, in case you did not know officials of the ECZ are sometimes invited by political parties to supervise party elections. Since they are “neutral” they only go when invited.
Lies will always haunt you. In Kasama after a Church building donation, GBM is on record that The President once he is back from UK will tour all provinces to preach about PF development. Alas is that actually it is him who is touring the country to preach Endorsement of the current president.
So what is this Game. The Gotti or Gambinos?
GBM has really played winter very well on this one put the i.d.i.o.t were he belongs- dull lawyer this country has ever produced.
I bet Sata wishes he had not confirred the SC (State Counsel) upon Kabimba.
Chipani chamala.
Chamala chomene atsibweni.
Well spoken beans GBM.am behind u sir
*****. you don’t know what you are calling for. That man has qualities of a Dictator.A rich black man when in power will never accept to be succeeded when alive. Unless after death.Former Presidents feel its an insult to be stripped of power. Dont make a mistake.look for other people even from the opposition.
PF will dribble itself into oblivion. You need level headed people to run the affairs of a nation.
With all this going on I would urge the PF to concentrate on development that’s what people are intrested in.democracy can be retrogressive if abused.
No one in his right frame of mind can challenge SATA in PF! That is why endorsement is just misdirecting energies.
As if you can endorse a different presidential candidate and still remain a membet of Pf and alive kekeke
GBM has really hammered the Bwinjimfumu plans! This is good, Bwinjimfumu is panicking!
It appears that anyone who fails to think says Bwinjimfumu. Tiring and redundant! Twatendwa
The CIRCUS continues.
Yes GBM ask them. Play the thug card they’ve been playing on others. Deal them that same card they dealt Lubinda. Route out those conniving basket cases. By any means necessary Summer K. and that clown from Bwinjifumu should go. It’s high time sanity came back to PF.
too much of everything is bad naiwe GBM, you have talked a lot.
The problem with such is that verbal prose is that he may find out later that Sata actually supports Kabimba hence the silence.
In others worlds!
Sata is asking Mmembe, Kabimba, Nchito & Matabini to show their balls. And Masebo to show her Uff. He has now put them in the corner and they have to respond with their preffered candidate.
GBM is currently floating with good jabs and upper cuts hitting Mmembe & Kabimba where it hurts. I guess Kabimba & Mmembe need to hit GBM in his belly to see how strong he is.
MMD & UPND, just stay in the ring side and watch the fight . Whoever wins this fight becomes the guy to beat in 2016.
Its said a day in politics is very long. Not so long ago, PF members were very gleeful and taunted Nevers Mumba to concentrate on unifying his party when Kachingwe and Namugala were being used by PF to distabilise MMD. Now the skirmishes, soon to be a full blown war is raging within PF. If truth were to be said, Sata was charismatic (not any more) and mediocre politicians joined him as Sata’s charm pulled in alot of followers. As things have unfolded from 2011, Sata’s lack of strategic planning and lact of intellect has been exposed. This was recognised by the Kabimba group and had wanted to piggyback ride on Sata into power. Once in power, replace him. Unfortunately, PF revolves round Sata. As has been evident Sata’s stay is being prolonged by tribal patronage. Stateman he isn’t!
What amazes me is why this has become an issue all of a sudden? We still have three more years to go before the next presidential elections for God’s sake. This is just one way of diverting peoples attention from the many pertinent issues that need addressing at the moment. The fact that there is silence from the head himself does not help matters. I would rather hear about the progress on the new districts created, the roads being worked on, the new jobs created e.t.c.
So now GBM has FINALLY come out in the open. What EVERYBODY knows is that the Kabimba camp, mostly of educated individuals, have told GBM over and over again that there was no need to go on an endorcement campaign because they felt it was automatic that President Sata would continue. SO NOW GBM IS SAYING IT IS NOT AUTOMATIC FOR SATA TO CONTINUE. So it is GBM HIMSELF who has a problem with Sata continuing. And this is as we have been suspecting all along that GBM has ulterior motives; because he is illiterate he has revealed himself without him realising. GBM now can’t challenge the Kabimba group to name their preferred candidate: they already said to them it is automatic that it is going to be Sata. Does GBM have a problem with that? Why is GBM forcing them to change their minds???
You sound like mmembe. All the Kabimba team need to do is come out and say we are against early presidential election campaigns or endorsements as it were but our preferred candidate is Sata, good health permitting. I know you are saying they have already stated, well they have just been challenged to say it again. they may need to belabour the point. After all they have a big mouth piece at their disposal – the post,
I have followed these endorsement and anti-endorsement debates with keen interest. Iam convinced that GBM has Sata’s blessing. The Kabimba – Mmembe cartel have been scheming on positioning Kabimba for presidency for sometime. Their plans were clandestine and they gained alot of influence within the PF and government. This became apparent to all in the know. Therefore, whoever advised GBM to start the Sata endorsement campaign is a genius. This is a proper and clever response to neutralise and throw the Kabimba – Mmembe cartel’s plan into disarray. Because if they cant be seen to support the endorsement of MCS for 2016, then it exposes them and confirms what everybody knows. It also shows disloyalty to the presidency of MCS. So GBM has MCS’s support and the cartel needs a clever…
In my opinion, the real agenda here is not MCS for 2016. Rather, it is the succession of MCS. Much as they had to come up with something to use against Given Lubinda, now the target is to get Wynter Kabimba out of the party’s lime light and get him sidelined for good, so that he doesn’t become a threat to the ultimate successor of MCS.
Which Mmembe-Kabimba cartel? You people amaze me with your consipiracy theories. You are shocking!
Come on GBM we don’t know what the future holds and being
President is very stress not forgetting someone ages fast just
Pray Sata will be sane otherwise it’s always good to have
Plan B, and stop that foolishness most countries always have emergence
People on standby so that government doesn’t stop
thats right china, infact the health of MCS may not allow him to go 5 more yrs after 2016. GBM knows that and he is doing this for his own agenda
MR GBM PLEASE LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF WISE MEN.
MIND YOUR BUSINESS, SIR. YOURS IS DEFENSE.
THE PARTY IS MR KABIMBA’S.
WHEN THE TIME COMES HE WILL START WITH
THE INCUMBENT OFFICE HOLDER TO SIGN THE
NOMINATION PAPERS WITH A CERTAIN NUMBER
OF MEMBERS OF THE PARTY. THAT IS THE PROCEDURE…
THEN HE WILL MAKE AN APPEAL TO ANYONE
ELSE TO COME FORWARD.
SOME OF US ENDORSED FREDRICK CHILUBA
BUT THE PEOPLE HAD THEIR OWN PREFERENCE.
PLEASE LEAVE IT TO THE SECRETARY GENERAL.
HE WILL MAKE THAT CALL!
CONCERN YOURSELF WITH EXPLAINING WHY PEOPLE
SHOULD ACCEPT AND ENDORSE JESUS…
IS IT BECAUSE HE IS THE SON OF GOD OR BECAUSE
OF WHAT HE IS DOING IN THEIR LIVES?
Imwe Ba P.F please!!! You appear to be investing all your time in useless endorsement squabbles, instead of putting more energy & time towards developing Zambia. Don’t you honestly think if you used all that time you have been battering one another, & destroying property + schools, in cleaning up our filthy cities, & communities- Zambia would benefit better, & as a result make your prospects for re- election in 2016 easier. Your priorities P.F, are back to front & meaningless. Wake up!!!
A climb-down. Indicating that he has been talked-to, and probably rebuked , by the PF top brass about the folly of his ways vis-a-vis the democratic provisions of the PF constitution, and, the danger his misguided crusade posed to the party.
Imwe Ba P.F, please!! You seem to have Your priorities all wrong, wasting time on useless endorsement squabbles that don’t develop the Nation, or ease the suffering of the masses. Unfortunately endorsement campaigns only benefit you the Guys at the top. Instead of battering one another, destroying property, & schools- whilst squabbling who should lead the country, put this time, energy & financial resource towards cleaning our filthy cities/ communities. Cleaning our cities may make it easier for you to get re-elected in 2016. GET YOUR PRIORITIES RIGHT
they have eyes but can not see. they think people are gona forget PF failures by listening to endorsements. May prayer is to have opposition change their approach so as to win 2016votes
Those endorsements are within PF only and not the country over. Those of you that are watching the happenings in the nation can tell me that come 2016, GBM, Kabimba or Sata himself shall not go through. The PF talk is digging a deeper grave for themselves. The same voters that brought PF to state house have currently changed there minds, even the street vendors have a mind change already. so, let GB Violence Mwamba go on wasting time on endorsements. We have shut our ears, we can’t hear him. FTJ third term tactics at it again.
If GBM says the party will go for a national
convention why then don’t you address
your endorsement to participants of the
convention rather than making it a national
debate?
This ain’t news no more,total crap!
The squabbles will just undermine the authority of the Secretary General of the PF party. In other words, he is now presiding over a divided organisation and his bark from now on will be worse than his bite. Only the president of the party can restore this authority by putting this issue to bed. Then again, knowing MCS, he thrives on confussion. My gut feeling is that these guys know something that we do not know, hence the in-fighting. Only time will tell.
Reports have been coming that HEMCS has started building his retirement house. Why this not be construed to mean that he only wants to be a one-term president? Besides the retirement house story, the media has been bombarded by stories of Sata’s poor health, that he is sick and may not be around for very long. Why then this nonsensical talk about endorsing Sata for 2016? Is Zambia a tribal property of the Bembas? Why this preoccupation about 2016, which is still a long way off? There is something out of the ordinary here, and everyone, not just Kabimba, but every Zambian is been hoodwinked and short-changed in broad day light.
Third term mentality. Don’t think Sata will give you the Presidency or the post of Vice-President.
Who will risk to put his head on the chopping block when the sitting president has one more term to go for?
Silly GBM, you are like the proverbial donkey who is digging his own grave.
PF is finished.
MMD is coming back with a vengeance.
There are really problems in PF please work hard to finish this!
great bag of maize(gbm) is very dull, why should he insist on endorsing someone who comes out of state house only when there is a bye election. people of zambia are watching attentively, they are not so gullible. how do you endorse someone whom you do not know if he will even make it to that date! there is something we do not know going on behind the curtains
Two months ago I stated that ” Song Birds have predictable Life Span, the Louder it sings the Shorter the Life” It was then Kambwili,Kabimba and now GBM. THE CIRCUS CONTINUES.
It is now too much of GBM in the news everyday, can someone remind him that he is in charge of a sensitive ministry and work to be done.
I don’t think Mr Sata is sleepping and let these kids in politics do whatever they want to do. Wina is about to cry. Whoever decided to challenge the President is a devil . He is not fair 2 him and 2 de nation at large.Dark corners this time? Work!
GBM, if there was ever a time to impeach your Boss, this is the time. You are doing a good job in making Sata look like an imbecile and impeachable . Nevers said it Zambia shall be saved. Impeach the man and the country will thank the parliamentarians.
THE BEST WAY IS TO LEAVE THIS BAG OF UNGA TALK, TALK UNTIL HE TALKS NO MORE WITHOUT ANSWERING HIM.
LET US CONCETRATE ON OTHER BETTER THINGS. WHO KNOWS IT COULD BE A SCHEME FOR PF TO DIVERT OUT ATTENTION.
FARMING SEASON AROUND THE CONNER. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
When it comes to political rivalry, Bemba politicians have a knack never to leave anything to chance. They have every kind of weaponry in their arsenal and are capable of using the worst kind of brutality should they deem it so. Look at how Mumba dealt with major Kachingwe in MMD. Also check their record during the days of UNIP or during Chiluba’s reign. Kabimba needs to be on the look-out.
Pf has run out of idea to keep the country above water hence creating this stupid smoke screen ***** mofos the country is going through alot right now and they have clearly failed, no bcg nor ARVs who in there right mind is interested in sata or kamimbya or gbv no one would cry or drop a tear for these people they dont count for squat
GBM does not alot he just PUKES MARABISHI. NJA ZWA.
Politics in this country s.u.c.k. No wonder we are not going anywhere with such group of people leading us. This country is in a leadership and urge youths to stand up and take charge otherwise I don’t see us having a future in this country. G.B.M should just shut up because he has seriously started to annoy people.
Sata should be very careful with this young man Mwamba. Mwamba is highly ambitious to take over from Sata as president. Sata will indeed leave office soon, and Mwamba hopes to fit into Sata’s shoes. What a scheme! Dirty Bemba Scheme.
@TRUTH. I agree with your option/observation. Mwamba is not the schemer he is HIS MASTER ‘S VOICE the one who is authorises his trips,as he can’t be all over without permission.