Mutale Nalumango

Teaching Career

Nalumango served as vice-president of the Secondary Schools’ Teachers Union of Zambia before entering politics in 2001.^[2]

Political Career

She was the first female to be elected as Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly in the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) regime. Mutale Nalumango was a Member of Parliament for Kaputa Constituency for ten years between 2001 and 2011. She lost the seat to PF’s late Maxas Ng’onga in 2011. In 2011 after losing her parliamentary seat, she joined the UPND. She was subsequently appointed the party’s national chairwoman, a position she held until February 2021 when she was appointed UPND Vice President.

Mutale Nalumango worked as a Cabinet minister in charge of Labour and Social Services under the Levy Mwanawasa administration and was the first woman to become a chief government spokesperson when she was Minister of Information and Broadcasting. ^[2] In 2003, under her watch as information minister, police raided Richard Sakala’s Omega TV following a letter written by then solicitor general Sunday Nkonde in which he stated that the TV station was operating illegally and needed to be shut down.

The action raised concerns as far as press freedom in Zambia was concerned.^[3]

Nalumango was appointed as vice president of UPND in February 2021. Announcing Nalumango's appointment, Hakainde Hichilema said the decision was arrived at after wide consultations. The vice presidency fell vacant after Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba ditched the UPND to re-join the PF in early 2020.^[4]

References