A STORM is brewing in the MDC-T with some officials calling
for action against party spokesperson Obert Gutu for allegedly threatening to
derail the MDC Alliance by declaring his interest in Harare East constituency.
Gutu is accused of trying to contest Harare East, a
constituency that is reserved for the People’s Democratic Party led by Tendai
Biti. Before he was recalled from Parliament after breaking away from MDC-T,
Biti served as the legislator for the constituency.
The MDC-T is currently embroiled in serious internal fights
over the succession of ailing party leader Morgan Tsvangirai amid fears the
party could split a few months before general elections.
Several party officials in rival camps have been calling
for action against Gutu.
But Gutu yesterday said he was going nowhere.
“If there are some issues I am supposed to answer, they
must come through the proper channels of the party,” Gutu said.
“I don’t comment on ghost people. If they are there and if
they have issues they are procedures to be followed and they don’t go to the
papers. For now, I am in the MDC-T full time. I am at my position and ndakagara
kuti zete (I am not going anywhere).”
Harare youth secretary Denford Ngadziore, believed to be
acting on behalf of other senior officials, declared Gutu was out of order.
“Harare East constituency shall remain an MDC Alliance seat
allocated to Biti. Any other talk of pursuing personal agendas should
immediately be dismissed and confronted with adequate resistance,” Ngadziore
said.
“If Gutu wants to continue speaking on behalf of himself
the relevant party organs will help him recuse himself from the party
spokesperson position so that we have another person who can speak on behalf of
the party.
“This matter should be solved as a matter of urgency in
Harare as we all know MDC Alliance is the way to go including Harare East
structures.”
This came at a time when Tsvangirai’s daughter, Vimbai is
reported to be eyeing Glen View constituency, a move that has irked many senior
officials that have been working to contest the seat for a long time.
Vimbai could not confirm is she was interested in the
constituency. “At the moment, I am concentrating on the sickness of my
father,” she said.
MDC-T sources claimed a faction within the party was
seeking to mileage by embracing Tsvangirai’s daughter.
According to sources, the matter has unsettled some
officials who are uncomfortable with Tsvangirai’s daughter being thrown into
party factions. Newsday
0 comments:
Post a Comment