…as Komichi is accused of pushing for a non-elective congress
Political Reporter
All is not well in the opposition MDC T party with reports saying that the party’s national chairperson, Morgan Komichi was pushing for a non-elective congress as he fear for his political life.
A source who spoke to this publication said that Komichi, who had initially planned to challenge Douglas Mwonzora for the MDC-T presidency, had turned on that decision and was now standing for re-election as the national chairperson.
However, according to the source, some young Turks within that party are plotting to challenge Komichi and other senior leaders at the forthcoming congress and Komichi has since issued a directive that no position will be contested at the congress in order to protect himself from being challenged.
“Last week, Komichi wrote a memo to all MDC-T structures informing them that at the 5th congress to be held later this year, there will be no elections but some members would be co-opted to fill the gaps left by those who have crossed floor to other political parties. However, this directive has caused disgruntlements within the MDC-T structures as members are blaming Komichi for protecting party bigwigs from being contested,” said the source.
The source added that Komichi further directed that “there shall be no tampering with the existing structures and higher organs will supervise the gap-filling of lower structures.” This has caused pandemonium among the MDC-T members who are accusing the party bigwigs of shutting the leadership door on the young generation.
“What is the purpose of the congress if they don’t want to be contested? The party constitution clearly states that during congress, all positions would be contested. This directive from Komichi is a violation of the MDC-T constitution and we will not allow that,” said the source.
Meanwhile, the MDC-T will hold its congress in December this year with 10 000 delegates expected to attend. The MDC-T youth assembly has already endorsed Mwonzora as that party’s sole presidential candidate at the congress.
