‘Mpombo, Magande failed to reform'By Times ReporterTHE MMD has said expelled Kafulafuta Member of Parliament George Mpombo and his Chilanga Constituency counterpart Ng'andu Magande failed to reform despite being given chance to do so.MMD chairperson for information and publicity Dora Siliya said senior party officials counselled Mr Mpombo and Mr Magande but they failed to change, leaving the party without choice but to expel them. Ms Siliya said prolonging the membership of the MPs even after unrestrained attacks against the leadership would have contradicted the spirit of democracy which prescribed respect for the leadership and allowed criticism that did not breed an environment of antagonism.At a media briefing in Lusaka yesterday, Ms Siliya, who is Minister of Education, said members of the ruling party were angered against the delay by the National Executive Committee (NEC) to expel the two MPs and the party wanted to reconcile with them to avoid the costly by-elections."The two MPs failed all these tests and as a party, we had no choice. Even after much counsel to try and assist the two members of Parliament to refrain from insulting their own party, making disparaging remarks against their own party as well as their president, this whole process did not bear," Ms Siliya said.Ms Siliya said the party was convinced that the decision to terminate the membership of Mr Magande, who is also chairperson for finance and Mr Mpombo was long overdue and meant to serve the party from accepting anarchy.National Assembly of Zambia, chief research and Press liaison officer Chikomeni Banda has said the office of the Speaker had not yet received letters from the MMD requesting him to declare the Kafulafuta and Chilanga constituency seats vacant."The Speaker's office has not received anything yet from the MMD," he saidMr Mpombo yesterday said he had taken the expulsion lightly and was not affected.He said he had not yet received a letter of expulsion from the MMD NEC, which met and decided to expel the duo in Lusaka at the weekend.He would only announce his next move after he had gone through the contents of the letter of expulsion.And Mr Magande also said he had not yet received the letter from NEC and added that he would announce his future plans after receiving the letter. Ms Siliya said statements that would be issued by the two MPs would be ignored because they were outsiders.Meanwhile, Ms Siliya has said Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata should realise that President Rupiah Banda is the only authority in the country with the mandate to announce the date for elections in consultation with the Electoral Commission of Zambia.She said the call for early elections by Mr Sata in yesterday's edition of The Post Newspaper was irresponsible and should be ignored.