Mangango MP Shocks Parliament With His Military Drills

Liambai Lingweshi

By Paul Shalala

In what could probably be described as the "am not tired" stunt performed in Parliament this morning, newly elected Mangango Member of Parliament Liambai Lingweshi stole the limelight in his maiden appearance at Manda Hill when he performed military drills on the floor of the house.

Mr Lingweshi, who won a heavily contested for by-election last month, started by performing drills to pick his affidavit from Clerk of the National Assembly Doris Mwiinga shortly before he was sworn in by Speaker of the National Assembly Dr. Patrick Matibini.

After signing the affidavit, the former teacher marched in military style and bowed down before handing over the papers to the Speaker as the whole house burst into laughter.

During campaigns leading to the poll Mr Lingweshi won, several stakeholders mocked the man because of his age saying he was too elderly to go to parliament.

The Mangango lawmaker was among the five new members of parliament sworn in this morning by Dr Matibini.

Others sworn in where Davis Chisopa of Mkushi South, Christabel Ngimbu of Zambezi West, Dawson Kafwaya of Solwezi Central and Victoria Kalima of Kasenengwa.

Vubwi MP-elect Margaret Miti did not show up as she is reportedly nursing her mother in Chipata.

The swearing in ceremonies were done shortly before President Michael Sata officially opened the first meeting of the fourth session of the eleventh National Assembly.

In his wide ranging speech, Mr Sata directed Secretary to the Cabinet Rowland Msiska to ensure that all state owned enterprises list on the Lusaka Stock Exchange.

He also said government is in the process of establishing an Equalisation Fund to help District Councils countrywide improve their service delivery.

On the controversial issue of land, Mr Sata said his government has drafted a bill that seeks to administer customary land.

He revealed that the bill once enacted will protect the interest of rural farmers so that they can utilise their land and benefit economically.

Zambia's Female MPs Now Reach 20 After Recent By-Elections

Victoria Kalima

By Paul Shalala

The number of female Members of Parliament in Zambia's National Assembly has now hit 20 following the election of three women during by-elections held last week.

On Thursday, three female MPs Victoria Kalima (Kasenengwa), Christabel Ngimbu (Zambezi West) and Margaret Miti (Vubwi) where elected following tightly contested for polls.

Margaret Miti

The by-elections where a trendsetter as more than 4 females where adopted to contest the 5 seats.

Despite this huge achievement in the promotion of women participation in decision making, the number of male MPs is still higher than that of females.

Of the 158 MPs (both elected and nominated), Zambia has more than 125 male MPs.

Others elected where male MPs who included Dawson Kafwaya (Solwezi Central) and  and Davies Chisopa (Mkushi South).

Christabel Ngimbu

The elections retired Dr. Eustarkio Kazonga who represented the people of Vubwi for several years and was a Deputy and Cabinet Minister in the MMD.

Another old timer  who was retired in the by-elections was Charles Kakoma who was in his second term in Zambezi West.

Below are statements from the women's movement congratulating the electorates for electing the female MPs:

PRESS STATEMENT

ZNWL ELATED AT THE ELECTION OF THREE WOMEN AS MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT

For Immediate Release                                                                  12 September 2014 

The Zambia National Women’s Lobby is elated at the election of Ms. Victoria Kalima (MMD), Ms. Margaret Miti (PF) and Ms. Christabel Ngimbu (PF) as Members of Parliament for Kasenengwa, Vubwi and Zambezi -West respectively, in the recent by elections. The number of women in Parliament has now increased from 17 to 20 and the percentage of women in Parliament now stands at 12.6% from 10.7%. We appeal to the PF Government to appoint the newly elected women MPs into Cabinet to further increase the number of women in decision making positions.

The election of the three honourable members of parliament is testimony of the progress made towards society’s acceptance of women as equal partner in development.

We commend their political parties for having afforded the three women an opportunity to serve the nation at a high level and further extend our gratitude to the people of these three constituencies for choosing women to represent their interests.

We urge the three members of parliament to work hard and diligently serve the people who have placed their hopes and aspirations in their hands.

We urge political parties to continue adopting women so that they have a chance of serving at national decision making positions to bring about gender equality which is a conduit for national development.

ZNWL remains committed to enhancing the participation of women in leadership at various levels and will continue to advocate and lobby for improved recognition of women as equal partners in development.

BEAUTY KATEBE (MS)    

ZAMBIA NATIONAL WOMEN’S LOBBY BOARD CHAIRPERSON

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

12^th September 2012

NGOCC CONGRATULATES NEWLY ELECTED FEMALE PARLIAMENTARIANS

The Non Governmental Organisations’ Coordinating Council (NGOCC) congratulates the three newly elected female Members of Parliament, who were elected during the last round of by -elections held on 11 September 2014.

As a movement, we are glad that voters in the three constituencies have elected women to preside over the constituencies.

Three out of the five winners in the by-elections held in North Western, central and eastern provinces are women, namely Ms. Christabel Ngimbu (Zambezi West), Ms. Margret Miti (Vubwi), and Ms. Victoria Kalima (Kasenengwa).

NGOCC has been deeply concerned with the low number of women in decision-making positions especially in Parliament and Cabinet. It is totally unacceptable that 50 years after independence, only four (4) women are Cabinet Ministers and 20 are Members of Parliament.

Hence we wish to congratulate all the political parties that adopted women as candidates. We hope that they will continue to adopt more women as their candidates especially as the country prepares for the 2016 Presidential, Parliamentary, and Local Government elections.

The election of the three in the last by - elections is a further demonstration of the growing confidence the Zambian people have in the leadership of women.

There is need for the country to begin to formulate policies that will accelerate the country’s attainment of the SADC Gender protocol of 50 – 50 representation for both men and women by 2015.

for/NGOCC

Engwase B. Mwale

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR