Rashida Mulenga: Kalulushi Mayor With An Ambitious Plan

Kalulushi Mayor Rashida Mulenga (Center), Town Clerk
 Seke Mbulo (left) and Deputy Mayor Modester Kabwe
 (right) before a Full Council meeting last week

By Paul Shalala in Kalulushi

At 33 years old, Rashida Mulenga is one of the youngest Mayors in the country.

She was elected last year as Kalulushi Mayor during the general elections.

Rashida was not a surprise candidate for this position.

She has been an active member of the ruling Patriotic Front since 2011.

In 2015, she was elected PF Kalulushi Constituency Women’s Chairperson.

This is how her ambitious plan to serve the people of Kalulushi was born.

“Initially, I wanted to serve people at a different level, but the people themselves asked me to stand as a Mayor. This is because we did a lot of community work in Kalulushi,” said Rashida in an interview at her home.

She leads a male dominated council.

Out of the 22 Councilors in Kalulushi, only two are women.

One councillor, Febby Mulenga Simwanza of Lulamba ward is serving her second five year term while the other female councillor Maureen Mwape of Lukoshi ward is in her first term.

Kalulushi Councillors during a Full Council meeting last week

                                                             

Despite all this, Rashida dreams big for Kalulushi.

“We want to transform Kalulushi into an industrial town. We have already identified land east of the town where we want to take the Central Business District. We will move most government departments and construct shopping malls and hotels in the new CBD.”

Late last year during the Local Government association of Zambia (LGAZ) annual general meeting held in Ndola, Rashida was elected unopposed as the LGAZ Vice President for the Copperbelt Province.

This propelled her to the national executive committee of the organisation which represents Zambia’s over 1,600 Councillors, Mayors and Council Chairpersons.

Aside of politics, the Mayor of Kalulushi is a mother.

She has seven children to take care of.

Rashida is married to prominent Copperbelt businessman Godfrey Kangwa, who is popularly known as Shi Mumbi.

But how does she share time between family and politics?

“When am at home am a mother who helps the children with home work and I also cook for my mother. I need to do these house chores because as a wife, I need to do my traditional duties despite being a politician,” said Rashida.

Today, she maybe living her dreams, but the road to success has not been all rosy.

She at one time was homeless in Lusaka before she made it in life.

Kalulushi Member of Parliament Kampamba Mulenga

“Life has not been easy to me. After the death of one of my parents, we witnessed real property grabbing. I became homeless and guess who gave me shelter: the girlfriend to my stepfather. I want to encourage people who are suffering, you do not know what God has for you, stay strong and pray to him.”

At 33 years of age, Rashida may have achieved a lot in politics.

But she also has educated herself with the highest paper being a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Management Institute of Southern Africa which she completed last year.

This year, she enrolled at the same institution and she is now pursuing an Honours Degree in Public Administration.

For now as she continued being driven in her official mayoral vehicle whose number plate is KMC 1, the preoccupation of the first resident of Kalulushi is to see her town graduate from a municipality to a city in the near future.

Kalulushi only has one constituency and the Member of Parliament is also a lady Kampamba Mulenga, Zambia’s Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services.

Despite sharing the same surname, the Kalulushi Mayor and MP are not related.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was originally aired on TV1's Morning Live program on 9 March 2017. The TV report can be viewed on this YouTube link. 

Kampamba Mulenga: Copperbelt's Only Female Member of Parliament

By Paul Shalala in Kalulushi

She is the only female Member of Parliament among the 22 lawmakers on the Copperbelt.

Newly elected Patriotic Front Kalulushi Member of Parliament Kampamba Mulenga has fought her way to Manda Hill.

She was among several female parliamentary candidates on the Copperbelt who were adopted by various political parties to contest the August 11 parliamentary elections.

However, all her friends lost and she pulled through alone.

Her victory is good news for gender activists but the fact that she is the only female MP in the second largest province in terms of registered voters, is a source of worry to people who follow women politics closely.

Between 2011 and 2016, the Copperbelt had four elected female Members of Parliament in Kabushi (Ndola), Chifubu (Ndola) Chililabombwe and Lufwanyama.

Back to Kampamba, her election has proved that being consistent in politics can also take one to the national stage.

At a personal level, she is a mother of three who still does household chores like any other mother.

When this blogger met her for an interview, the Kalulushi MP was busy in the kitchen preparing food for her family.

Her rise to national prominence is out of hardwork.

"I was first elected party District Treasurer. Later i was elected the first District Chairperson for the Patriotic Front in 2011. At that time, it was difficult to win such a position as a woman and we were still in opposition," said Kampamba.

She says her hard work in the party led to late President Michael Sata recognising her and making her part of his government.

"President Sata later appointed me District Commissioner for Kalulushi."

It is this civil service position which helped position Kampamba well with the people of Kalulushi, a town which has one constituency.

In that role, Kampamba was one of the few female District Commissioners on the Copperbelt.

And even after leaving the office a few years ago, she went back to politics and stealthily prepared for the adoptions ahead of the 2016 parliamentary elections.

As usual, she was pitted against men within the ruling party but she prevailed.

During the actual elections, she beat all the five men who stood against her.

Now that she has been elected, she has a few words for women on the Copperbelt.

Rashida (left) and Kampamba celebrating their victory

"I will work hard and inspire more women to stand as MPs in 2021. We need more women to take up leadership positions. And for the people of Kalulushi, i want to assure them that i will not disapoint them, i will work towards my campaign promises and develop our constituency," she said.

As she embarks on her five year tour of duty at Manda Hill, the hopes of people in Kalulushi is that she will carry on the mantle and deliver where men could have failed to deliver.

Kampamba is not the only woman elected in Kalulushi.

A number of coucillors are female and the new Mayor of Kalulushi Rashida Mulenga is also female.

Despite sharing the same surname, Rashida and Kampamba are not related.

Their own relation is the quest to develop Kalulushi.