VETERAN Zambian politician and diplomat Vernon Mwaanga has called for the creation of special seats for women in the National Assembly and Local Councils, where women can contest against each other using proportional representation system.
In a statement issued yesterday, Dr Mwaanga says he feels the selection of Parliamentary and ward candidates in Zambia is left to political parties, who do not feel obligated to field women candidates.
“There is something wrong somewhere. Sometime they field women candidates in Parliamentary Constituencies and wards where they know that they will lose. The time for affirmative action in favour of women has now come,’’ Dr Mwaanga said.
He says he can confidently say that women fought side by side with men during the struggle for independence.“Through progressive leadership, we have almost achieved equal pay for equal work. A lot of retrogressive legislation, which discriminated against women has been scrapped,’’ Dr Mwaanga said.
He says there was a time when women could not singularly sign for passports of their children. The law required the father’s signatures for such documents to be validated.
He has applauded President Hakainde Hichilema, for appointing more women Permanent Secretaries, other senior government positions, as well as Ambassadors and High Commissioners.“In 2011 when MMD (Movement for Multi-Party Democracy) lost power to PF (Patriotic Front), the women in Parliament were 23% of the total number of Members. This subsequently dropped to 11% and now to 13%,’’ Dr Mwaanga empahsised.
He says during the 2021 elections, women registered voters were 53% and men were 47% and yet but wondered that representation of women in the Local Councils is even lower.
There is general agreement among nearly all the countries of the world, that there can be no meaningful development without the participation of women.Dr Mwaanga says it has taken Zambia a long time to get to make to make significant progress to wards having more women in Parliament and Local authorities.He notes that on the African Continent, Zambia has had to put up with archaic traditions which condemned women to the kitchen.
“Attitudes of African men were not easy to change.The realities of the 21st century in which we live, demand that women should be given equal opportunities to serve as Ministers, Members of Parliament, Councilors, Ambassadors, High Commissioners, Permanent Secretaries, Directors , Judges of the Supreme, Constitutional and High Courts.,’’ he said.Dr Mwaanga has since called on the Private Sector to also have women Chairpersons of Boards and Board Directors.
