MDC national chairperson Morgen Komichi has said Harare
West legislator Jessie Majome, who has opted out of the primary election race
citing irregularities, jumped the gun because she did not wait for the
selection of candidates that took place in Harare yesterday.
Majome, who is hugely popular in her constituency, on
Friday last week announced that she was withdrawing from the MDC primary race
where she was set to lock horns with microbiologist and former student leader
Joana Mamombe.
She alleged that the party leadership had manipulated the
party’s election guidelines.
“I have noted several factors that I cannot ignore, which I
have highlighted to my party which I believe, honestly, constitute manipulation
of my party guidelines towards a fair outcome to the extent in my view
regrettably so, that the will of bona fide and genuine Harare Westerners would
be lost in that process,”
Majome said during her press conference.
Her withdrawal from the race left many in anger as she is
highly regarded especially by people from her constituency as well as the
nation at large for her contributions in Parliament, while her challenger is a
relative newcomer.
However, Komichi, who is in charge of the MDC internal
elections, yesterday said the party will not impose candidates and there was
never a deliberate ploy to elbow Majome from the race.
“We are firstly looking at consensus among candidates. And
we have discovered that we have so many areas which can be dealt internally, we
can’t impose people.
“We first want to hear people’s views, we cannot impose
candidates but we must engage through negotiations.
“We cannot have one person stopping a process but the truth
is she pre-empted our strategy. We are supposed to look into Harare today and
determine who goes to proportional representatives if both candidates are
popular,” said Komichi.
With Majome now under pressure to stand as an independent
candidate, Komichi said the MDC was keen to have her back.
“We are aware of a possibility of independent candidates
but she pre-empted our strategy, we were concerned by her fate and still are.
“We must bring harmony among our people; we cannot just
protect one person.
“We have many areas where people have agreed on consensus,
we have people withdrawing from the race through voluntary processes,” Komichi
said.
He said there will be through with the selection process by
May 18. Daily News
0 comments:
Post a Comment