FORMER Defence minister and Kafulafuta Member of Parliament (MP) George Mpombo yesterday dared the MMD to expel him, promising to give the ruling party a tough time in a by-election.

But MMD deputy national Secretary Jeff Kaande challenged Mr Mpombo to resign on his own if he was a courageous person.

"Let him resign, why should he wait until he is expelled? If he is courageous enough let him resign and we shall take him on in a by-election if that is what he wants," Mr Kaande said.

Mr Mpombo, who was suspended by the Copperbelt party leadership on Monday, told a Press briefing in Ndola yesterday that the suspension had not bothered him.

"I still maintain my stand that leaders should not be put in office through acclamation and NEC has no mandate to forgo the constitution and since I respect the constitution, I remain unmoved. I am not bothered in the slightest. In any case, the whole thing has rejuvenated me," he said.

Mr Mpombo said he would pursue the matter to its logical conclusion and that he still did not respect the suspension announced by Copperbelt MMD provincial chairperson Joseph Chilambwe, which he said was "pregnant with serious party repercussions on the MMD on the Copperbelt".

He said his insistence not to recognise the suspension was not a sign of being stranded, neither did it mean he had been placed in an awkward position.

"And if they insist and force a by-election, then I will be forced to re-contest the Kafulafuta seat either as an independent or on the ticket of any friendly forces that will approach me, otherwise, I should clearly state here that I have no intentions of resigning from the MMD because this will be tantamount to chickening out. I want to continue fighting from within," Mr Mpombo said.

He accused the national chairperson Michael Mabenga of destroying the party in Western Province and that the Mulobezi MP now wanted to get credibility by judging the situation on the Copperbelt.

He said Mr Chilambwe had no mandate to suspend him.

Mr Mpombo said he would remain firm because there should be no compromise over democracy and that the question of the convention was non-negotiable.

"I am not shaken and if Mabenga wants to go ahead and expel me, the party will meet political Armageddon," he said.

Mr Mpombo said he received several phone calls from the MMD national executive committee (NEC) members stating that Mr Chilambwe had erred in suspending him and that the people in Kafulafuta were actually annoyed with what was going on.

He said "mishandling" Kafulafuta would be suicidal for the MMD because it would be used as a launch pad to the fall of the ruling party.

But Mr Chilambwe yesterday insisted that he had the mandate to suspend Mr Mpombo and urged him to read the MMD constitution thoroughly.

"Tell Mr Mpombo to read his MMD constitution, I have the mandate to suspend him," he said.

Mr Chilambwe said the MMD constitution gave him the authority to ban Mr Mpombo in an event that his constituency did not initiate the suspension exercise.

He said the party would give Mr Mpombo a chance to exculpate himself because MMD was a party of rules which would not expel anybody without giving him chance.

He, however, said should Mr Mpombo fail to exculpate himself or follow party rules, the provincial executive would recommend his expulsion to the NEC.

"Those are last kicks of a dying horse, I was hoping he would leave the party honourably by resigning and stand for an election on another party but it seems he is not ready to do that," Mr Chilambwe said.