MMD vice-president Michael Kaingu says the Patriotic Front (PF) does not practice intra party democracy and wants to fragment the democratic structures that have been built over the years.
Speaking on Face the Media Radio programmeon Radio Phoenix today, Mr Kaingu said Zambians should protect the hard earned democracy.
“PF has not demonstrated intra-party democracy even in their party. The President is trying to destroy the national democracy so that we can become like PF. What we want is to strengthen democracy because we [elders] will phase out but the youths will still be going to parliament,” he said.
Kaingu has accused President Michael Sata of plotting to antagonise the former ruling party. He said the Zambian people elected MMD members of parliament to serve them in their respective constituencies not in the government.
“The appointments compromise MMD MPS who cannot vote against the ruling party in parliament for fear of disappointing the government in which they serve,” he added.
He said government is enticing MMD members to cross the floor and that this was a worry to the health of democracy in the country. He said the MMD and the PF have different ideologies with different party manifestos.
Kaingu said there is need for an exhaustive consultative process before the PF government can start appointing opposition members of parliament into government.
He said the PF government should not blame Levy Mwanawasa for recruiting opposition MPs arguing that democracy evolves and that the country should not remain stuck in the past.
But PF deputy national secretary assistant for political affairs Sikwiindi Situla denied that his party is enticing opposition members of parliament to cross the floor.
Situla said government was ready to form an all inclusive government across political lines. He however said the PF can only negotiate when appointing opposition members of parliament into government when they were planning to form a government of national unity.
He said it was not true that PF was trying to stifle the democratic process in the country and that there was no law that has been abrogated. He said the members of parliament in government were not PF members but merely serving in government.
However, former Church of God national overseer Bishop John Mambo said the ideologies for the MMD and PF parties were different making it impossible to work together in an effective manner. He said the problem in Zambia is that the position of minister has been taken as a job as opposed to offering to the country a service.
Bishop Mambo said the president has the right to call anyone to serve but that the appointment should be based on consensus. He said there was need to have a strong opposition that provided effective checks and balances to the government.