Mwanawasa's plan to include opposition goes awry

A plan by Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa to include a number of opposition members in his cabinet for the sake of "unity and reconciliation" has instead resulted in deep political divisions within his own party and the opposition. On 8 February Mwanawasa appointed a number of key opposition members to his cabinet in spite of a successful court order against the move filed by one of the opposition parties. This week, United Party for National Development (UPND) and Forum for a Democratic Process (FDD), Zambia's main opposition parties, expelled four of the legislators from their parties for accepting positions in the Mwanawasa government, charging that they had breached their party's policies. Kennedy Shepande, newly appointed works and supply deputy minister was expelled from the UPND, while the FDD expelled new commerce minister Dipak Patel, new commerce deputy minister Geoffrey Samukonga and new deputy minister of agriculture Chance Kabaghe. Their expulsions effectively pave the way for the speaker of the national assembly to declare their seats vacant, allowing the Electoral Commission of Zambia to call fresh by-elections within 90 days. "Instead of uniting the nation, these appointments [of opposition members to cabinet] have created deep divisions that have led to political instability in the country," Roger Chongwe, prominent lawyer and leader of the opposition Liberal Progressive Front (LPF) told IRIN. "Because the appointments were not done in a proper manner and probably the intentions were not sincere, Zambia is now experiencing a political crisis. Mr Mwanawasa must revisit this decision," said Chongwe who once served as Zambia's legal affairs minister. Nedson Nzowa, an opposition legislator who accepted the position of deputy minister in the ministry of tourism told IRIN: "As far as I am concerned I went to parliament to represent the people of my constituency who voted for me and not my party president or party constitution. If I accept a government position I do so on behalf of my electorate and do not deserve to be punished. The laws that make it impossible for me to accept a government position to me are the ones that need to be checked," he said. At the return of multi-party politics in Zambia, the law did not address floor crossing and this led to dozens of ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) members, disenchanted with former president Frederick Chiluba, crossing to either become independents or to form new political parties. Faced with the possibility of losing the entire party to the opposition, Chiluba urged his MMD-dominated parliament to pass a law that made it illegal to join another party after entering parliament on a rival party ticket. Although Mwanawasa said he appointed the opposition members to ease political tensions, some believe it was connected to the opposition's Supreme Court challenge to his presidency on the grounds that he allegedly contravened electoral rules. The US-based Carter Centre, European Union election monitors and two local independent election monitors declared the elections not free and fair, while the former finance minister and the former intelligence chief alleged in the Supreme Court that taxpayers' money was used to finance Mwanawasa's election. "I don't think he bargained for expulsions when he appointed the opposition MPs," Ngande Mwanajiti, chairman of Coalition 2001 told IRIN. "He thought the opposition would not expel their members for fear of reducing their numbers in parliament, so this must be a shock to him, but the confusion is not good for the country." Members of Mwanawasa's party are also reportedly displeased at the lifting of Chiluba's immunity, to allow an investigation into corruption charges, and have stated that they will resign and form another party. At the weekend, a visibly angry Mwanawasa said during a public rally in the northern Copperbelt province that he was aware of a plot by 60 senior MMD members from the northern and Luapula province to leave the party. "Don't think you are clever [those who want to resign]...just leave the party because you are stinking and dirty," Mwanawasa said, "You won't succeed by forming a tribal party...get out now." It was his first public statement on the "rebel" faction led by national chairman of the MMD, Chitalu Sampa who have stated that they are not happy that Chiluba's immunity has been lifted and an arrest has been made. Chiluba was arrested and released on bail earlier this year on 66 counts of corruption.