Thursday, March 28, 2024

Zambia National Women’s Lobby calls for Support of the Only Female Candidate in Kabwata Polls

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The Zambia National Women’s Lobby (ZNWL) has hailed the courage shown by Ms Engiwe Mzyece – the only female candidate in the Kabwata Parliamentary by-election set for 3rd February, 2022.

ZNWL National Board Chairperson Daisy Nkhata Ng’ambi said the women’s movement is encouraged by UNIP candidate Ms. Mzyece’s consistency in her political career and desire to serve the people of Kabwata.

Ms. Ng’ambi has since called on voters in Kabwata Constituency to support Ms. Mzyece.

Ms. Mzyece is competing for the Kabwata Seat against UPND’s Andrew Tayengwa, PF’s Clement Tembo, Economic and Equity Party President Chilufya Tayali, Democratic Party’s Fred Mubanga and New Heritage Party’s Kennedy Muyoya.

The rest are PeP’s Henry Muleya, Socialist party’s Trevor Ng’andu and People’s Alliance for Change’s Sydney Zyambo.

Ms. Ng’ambi has also commended the United National Independence Party (UNIP) for adopting a woman in Kabwata.

“The Zambia National Women’s Lobby (ZNWL) would like to commend the United National Independence Party (UNIP) for adopting a woman, Ms. Engiwe Mzyece, to contest the 3February 2022 Kabwata parliamentary by-election, when the adoption of women as candidates in by-elections is becoming increasingly rare. ZNWL also commends Ms. Mzyece for her courage to contest in the parliamentary by- election being the only female candidate out of the 8 that are contesting. We are encouraged by Ms. Mzyece’s consistency in her political career and desire to serve the people of Kabwata, as she has continuously availed herself as a candidate in the past elections,” Ms. Ng’ambi stated.

She expressed ZNWL’s worry over the continued adoption of fewer women in elections.

“ZNWL is concerned that many qualified and committed women in political parties are being left out of adoptions in preference for male candidates. This has contributed to the reduction in the representation of women in leadership at local government and parliamentary level where statistics currently stand at 7.1% (local government and 13.4% parliamentary. This is way below the targets set by the SADC, African Union and United Nations which require 50% representation of women and men in decision making positions,” she said.

Ms. Ng’ambi said there is a need to reduce gender gaps regarding women in leadership.

“As an affiliate to these international bodies, Zambia should be seen making strides to reducing the gender gaps in decision making positions by promoting women’s participation in decision making positions, but unfortunately this has not been the case. ZNWL therefore implores all political parties to adopt affirmative measures that will make the adoption of women more attainable, and further ensure that women take-up leadership positions,” she observed.

“This will not only improve the political party’s performance but also help bridge the gender gap in leadership and decision-making positions. For the country to return on the path of increasing the number of women in leadership and ultimately reach the 50% gender representation in leadership target there must be demonstrated commitment from key stakeholders who include the Government and political parties,” Ms. Ng’ambi stated.

He added:”We urge the people of Kabwata Constituency to support the only female candidate that has availed herself during the by elections.”

Meanwhile, the Kabwata by-election was necessitated by the death of UPND’s Levy Mkandawire in November last year in a road accident.

According to the latest voters register, Kabwata Constituency has 108,729 voters of which 52,401 are males and 56,328 are females.

13 COMMENTS

  1. The enemy of women are women themselves. Women constitute the majority of our population. There are more women voters than men. If women were serious they could the ones in leadership of this country. However….women do not trust themselves. Women want to be led by men. So be it.

  2. And God said …lets make a man in our own image…Adam was !….Then God said lets give Adam a HELPER….and Eve was.

  3. Women were in the fore front opposing bill 10 which was supposed to elevate them beyond begging men for space . They rejected a very good bill.
    They now just follow the leadership of men.

  4. This woman equality agenda is misplaced. First & foremost, a Man and woman will never be equal, in reality. Cos , if they ll one day be equal, in what way ll they be equal? As one has breasts & other doesn’t, one has natural physical strength & the other doesn’t, one can go to war & fight villains and other one locks themselves indoors. So, on what basis will we be equal? You can’t change creation but we can negotiate how we treat each other, but not equality cos we will never ever be.

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  5. Secondly, as you can see from this educated madam above when she says “support the only lady in the competition”. She is clearly saying, whether that Lady is mediocre, qualified or not – just vote for here, cos she is a woman. Is this what it’s going to be? Cos the in future also men will start promoting only themselves – and when that happens, majority women will be left in the cold cos as is now, how many companies in the world do you know that were created by a women? (Including white countries) non, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Tesla, Nokia, Samsung, Toyota, Benz, BMW, P’n’P, Shoprite etc, all men. The richest women that you know, got rich by inheriting from these companies(husbands).

  6. So we can’t be equal, achievements and individual efforts tells us so. Let’s just talk of Domestic or office abuse – that, yes, 100%. Not infyongo!

  7. I agree but the woman should be voted for only if she is competent, just like for a man. Competency, capacity, intellect, attitude are some of the things to look for. You can not just vote for her because she is a woman, what if she is incompetent

  8. @1-4, Equality doesn’t mean being the same. A 12 year old boy isn’t the same as a 16 year old boy, but they are both equally boys.
    Similarly, two boys both aged 18, one is in a wheelchair and another isn’t, they are not the same, they are equal and should both have access to health and education.
    With that being said, I comment on #5. You are right, we don’t have to vote for someone simply because they are female, sex is not a qualification. The NGO should have complained about the lack of women, chapwa.

  9. This is a dog eat dog game, there no sacrifices made on account of gender. The nation needs individuals who can prove/proved to serve with creativity abilities without being pushed into positions that will prove to be a challenge to them. Take a look at the existing women in the current government, some are already preforming below par. Lets vote for the right person without lowering the bar set for ourselves. For that reason people of Kabwata should vote for a person they feel will deliver services to them.

  10. What is not right , is to slap a woman or woman to slap a man or any person slapping another or abusing each other or violence. This is what’s not right. But as far as Man & Woman is concerned, I don’t see it happening that I should leave my position for the sake of Equality. Let me give an example of myself, I came to South Africa from Zambia alone, suffered here a lot, some of that suffering was normal life problems, one of those were becos my fiancé(who is South African) wiped out my entire flat while I was at work,another woman rented a house from her paid 2months rent and she disappears. Along all this I opened my own company. Then I hired a supervisor who advised me to hire more women cos we need equality, I can call this supervisor 24/7 for reports but I don’t think I can do that…

  11. ….do that to a female, she would probably report me for stalking or male violence against women. So I call my supervisor and we ve business going day & nite , I make more profits and he makes his overtime too – legally. It’s a win win situation. But I don’t sleep cos I suffered a lot and don’t want to be there again- cos no really cares about you when u are poor- no one trust me. Not even NGOs who claim to help. Now the purpose of this article is this: In my career , I ve met other Business men some with exactly others with similar stories as mine but, I ve never met a single Lady-Business woman with this kind of story. It is this kind of vacuum that’s speaks volumes in me. And it is from this I’m certain that we ll never ever be equal. If we were, where is equality on this level-my…

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