Samuel Ngoma
30 October 2002
MMD national secretary hopeful, Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika says he is for a unified Zambia and does not believe in the secession of Barotseland (Western Province).
He said in an interview at his Avondale home in Lusaka yesterday that the Barotse issue against his candidature as the ruling party's chief executive was a mere excuse by "people who want to see President Mwanawasa isolated, weak and not re-enforced by the likes of me."
"This is a struggle between those who want to strengthen President Mwanawasa and those who are eager to undermine his leadership. "They know that if Aka becomes national secretary, he will contribute materially to the strengthening of the 'New deal' administration and the ruling party which I helped found. In any case, Dr Kaunda cancelled the Barotse pact," said Mbikusita-Lewanika.
He also denied ever being involved with some rebel group in the Caprivi fighting the Namibian government.
He said from his student days in America he backed the black conscious movement and Africa's liberation struggle. He could by no means support the Caprivi strip rebel group of Namibia because he had always been a supporter of SWAPO and even taught at Lusaka's Namibian Institute before Windhoek's self-determination.
"My only mistake was to tell a Namibian journalist that I had more friends in her government than mine. She went and twisted the truth and wrote that I had friends in the rebel Namibian camp," protested Mbikusita-Lewanika.
Mr Mbikusita-Lewanika regretted that Zambians had been prejudiced enough against Barotseland Agreement.
He said even the Barotse Agreement had nothing to do with secession and wondered why people who had never even read the document would speak so strongly against it.
He said he was ready to work with President Mwanawasa because he was a principled leader.
"I offer a completely undivided commitment to the success of the 'New Deal' Government and MMD's original agenda. I don't see the post of national secretary as a job but as a service point to carry out NEC instructions and not my own.," he said.
And Zambia Republican Party (ZRP) has come out in full support of Mr Mbikusita-Lewanika for the position of the MMD national secretary.
ZRP national legal chairman Jonas Mukumbi said Mr Mbikusita-Lewanika was the right man for that position and described all those opposing him as ungrateful.
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