Minister of Local Government and Housing Ben Tetamashimba of Zambia

Mr Tetamashimba said at a Press briefing in Lusaka yesterday that the MMD risked plunging into trouble if people like Dr Kalumba were not stopped from championing presidential ambitions and attacking anybody proposing that Dr Mwanawasa should be relieved of his party duties.

Mr Tetamashimba said he was worried that his advice was being twisted by people who had never defended the party in critical moments.

But Local Government Deputy Minister and spokesperson of the ruling Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) Ben Tetamashimba said it was not possible to withdraw the bills because they had already been passed by parliament Friday.

But Tetamashimba said party members that have been convicted of corruption were not fit to contest the position of party president.

Tetamashimba said the party would only choose the national presidential candidate at the convention, which he said would be held by early 2009.

Tetamashimba said so far no one has been nominated for the position.

However, Tetamashimba said President Mwanawasa would soon be nominating someone for the position.

Tetamashimba said Wednesday that it will be important for the party to consider Mwanawasa's successor when he comes back.

In an interview, Tetamashimba said although he believed that Mwanawasa would come back to lead the party, it was necessary that the issue of succession be discussed.

Banda’s Rottweiler Ben Tetamashimba has been elevated to full Minister of Local Government and Housing in a “jobs for the boys” fashion, which has also seen a lot of ministries being glossed over by being larded with more Deputy Ministers.

Mr Tetamashimba said the developers were given a green light two weeks ago.

Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) Spokesperson Ben Tetamashimba has defended his call for the party to start considering a successor to President Mwanawasa as party leader.

Tetamashimba is just scratching the surface of a bigger power struggle that`s currently taking place.

Tetamashimba said government will not sit idle and watch Zambians go hungry because of selfish individuals.

Tetamashimba was last week reported as saying that President Mwanawasa "is overworked and therefore the succession question should no longer be in abeyance.

Given the mood in the country where the predominant response to the president's hospitalisation has been to seek divine intervention through prayers and wishes for his quick recovery, Tetamashimba finds himself in a tight corner and it may get tighter still.

Tetamashimba said here Thursday that the NEC members from the eight provinces would be the same NEC members who would vote in Friday's NEC meeting to select the MMD presidential candidate for the imminent by-election.

Tetamashimba said the MMD constitution did not call for a party convention to choose a presidential candidate and as such the NEC could do so.

Tetamashimba said Banda qualified to be an MMD candidate in the presidential by-election because he had been in the MMD and NEC as a member since 2005 contrary to assertions that he is not eligible.

Tetamashimba said Banda was the preferred candidate, culminating in his appointment as vice-president, contrary to insinuations by some politicians that they were the preferred presidential candidates of the late president.

Tetamashimba said the President's decision could not therefore be challenged by people who did not challenge it when he was alive and made the decision.

Deputy Minister for Local Government Ben Tetamashimba had provoked harsh reprimands in Zambian political circles when he suggested that the succession question be discussed in light of Mwanawasa’s hospitalisation.

Tetamashimba has not adduced evidence that I have abandoned membership of the Patriotic Front.

On a point of order, the Standing Orders Committee sat and found that Mr Tetamashimba had contravened Article 71(2)(c) of the Constitution whereupon Mr Speaker declared his seat vacant.

the Speaker of the National Assembly and Others, which I have described in detail earlier, Hon B Tetamashimba had been elected to Parliament on the National Party ticket, but later became a member of the United Party for National Development, by assuming the office of the General-Secretary.

And Works and Supply minister Ben Tetamashimba says PF leader Michael Sata is behind the confusion on the Copperbelt.

Meanwhile, Ben Tetamashimba has claimed that the people creating anarchy on the Copperbelt were PF cadres.

Mr Tetamashimba said that Mr Sata was not being sincere because all those people that were creating anarchy on the Copperbelt were PF cadres.

Mr Tetamashimba said that from the very start, Mr Sata refused to concede defeat, and should therefore not turn around and blame Mr Banda for conflicts, which he created himself.

Tetamashimba opposes early parley closure Lusaka, November 7, ZANA—Information and Broadcasting Services Deputy Minister Ben Tetamashimba has opposed calls to adjourn Parliament now to allow Members of Parliament spearhead the ongoing voter-registration exercise.