Monica Nanyangwe Chintu was a Zambian politician, one of Zambia's first female politicians. [1]
Before entering Parliament, Chintu was active in the Women's Brigade of the United National Independence Party (UNIP). [2] She served two terms in Parliament as an MP. [1] She was returned UNIP Member of Parliament for Mbala North in the 1968 election, where she was the only elected woman MP. There she spoke out against the low level of women's representation in UNIP and in government. [2] In the 1973 election she was returned as MP for Senga Hill.
When a Women's Brigade hierarchy was established in 1974, Chintu was elected to serve as its vice-Secretary. She was a member of the 1976 Women's Council of Zambia, drawing up a programme of action for the UN Decade for Women. [2] As deputy for B. C. Kankasa in the UNIP Women's League, Chintu attended the first seminar organized by the Committee of the Bulgarian Women’s Movement (CBWM) after the Second World Conference on Women in Copenhagen in 1980. [3]
In 2014 President Michael Sata awarded Chintu the Companion Order of Freedom, first division. [4]
The politics of Zambia takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the president of Zambia is head of state, head of government and leader of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government, while legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. Formerly Northern Rhodesia, Zambia became a republic immediately upon attaining independence in October 1964.
Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba was a Zambian politician who was the second president of Zambia from 1991 to 2002. Chiluba, a trade union leader, won the country's multi-party presidential election in 1991 as the candidate of the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD), defeating long-time President Kenneth Kaunda. He was re-elected in 1996. As he was unable to run for a third term in 2001, former Vice President Levy Mwanawasa instead ran as the MMD candidate and succeeded him. After leaving office, Chiluba was the subject of a long investigation and trial regarding alleged corruption; he was eventually acquitted in 2009.
The Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) also known as New Hope MMD is a political party in Zambia. Originally formed to oust the previous government, MMD controlled an absolute majority in parliament between 1991 and 2001, when its past leader, Frederick Chiluba was President of Zambia. Its election into power in 1991 ended the 27-year rule of President Kenneth Kaunda and his United National Independence Party (UNIP). It remained the dominant party within Zambian politics until the general elections of September 2011.
The president of Zambia is the head of state and the head of government of Zambia. The office was first held by Kenneth Kaunda following independence in 1964. Since 1991, when Kaunda left the presidency, the office has been held by seven others: Dr. Frederick Chiluba, Levy Mwanawasa, Rupiah Banda, Michael Sata, Edgar Lungu and the current president Hakainde Hichilema, who won the 2021 presidential election. In addition, acting president Guy Scott served in an interim capacity after the death of President Michael Sata.
The United National Independence Party (UNIP) is a political party in Zambia. It governed the country from 1964 to 1991 under the socialist presidency of Kenneth Kaunda, and was the sole legal party in the country between 1973 and 1990. On 4 April 2021, Bishop Trevor Mwamba was elected President of UNIP.
Elections in Zambia take place within the framework of a multi-party democracy and a presidential system. The President and National Assembly are simultaneously elected for five-year terms.
The Zambian National Women's Lobby is a Zambian organization whose mission is to "bridge the gender gap in political decision making by advocating for increased women's participation and representation". The Lobby was created following Zambia's transition from a one-party state to a multi-party democracy in 1990. At the time, only seven women served in the Parliament of Zambia out of 150 seats, and only three women served on the Central Committee, the equivalent of today's Presidential Cabinet. The official motto of ZNWL is "WIZER" which stands for "Women in Zambia for Equality Representation".
Michael Charles Chilufya Sata was a Zambian politician who was the fifth president of Zambia, from 23 September 2011 until his death on 28 October 2014. A social democrat, he led the Patriotic Front (PF), a major political party in Zambia. Under President Frederick Chiluba, Sata was a minister during the 1990s as part of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) government. He went into opposition in 2001, forming the PF. As an opposition leader, Sata – popularly known as "King Cobra" – emerged as the leading opposition presidential contender and rival to President Levy Mwanawasa in the 2006 presidential election, but was defeated. Following Mwanawasa's death, Sata ran again and lost to President Rupiah Banda in 2008.
Rupiah Bwezani Banda was a Zambian politician who served as the fourth president of Zambia from 2008 to 2011, taking over from Levy Mwanawasa, who died as the sitting president. Banda was an active participant in politics from early in the presidency of Kenneth Kaunda, during which time he held several diplomatic posts.
Tilyenji Kaunda is a Zambian politician. Until 5 April 2021 he served as leader of the United National Independence Party (UNIP)
Kristen Rogheh Ghodsee is an American ethnographer and Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She is primarily known for her ethnographic work on post-Communist Bulgaria as well as being a contributor to the field of postsocialist gender studies.
Jethro Mukenge Mutti, was a Zambian politician who between the years 1964 to 1975 served as member of parliament, Ambassador, Minister and Member of the Central Committee under the ruling party UNIP led by Kenneth Kaunda. He died on 18 January 2013 after complications from aspiration pneumonia following a series of mini strokes and poor health in the last few years of his life, linked to his tetraplegic condition.
Edgar Chagwa Lungu is a Zambian politician who served as the sixth president of Zambia from 26 January 2015 to 24 August 2021. Under President Michael Sata, Lungu served as Minister of Justice and Minister of Defence. Following Sata's death in October 2014, Lungu was adopted as the candidate of the Patriotic Front in a Convention of the Patriotic Front in Kabwe, for the January 2015 presidential by-election, which was to determine who would serve out the remainder of Sata's term. In the election, he narrowly defeated opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema and took office on 25 January 2015.
Inonge Mutukwa Wina is a Zambian politician who served as the 13th vice-president of Zambia from 2015 to 2021. She was the first woman to hold the position, which made her the highest ranking woman in the history of the Zambian government.
Daniel Munkombwe was a Zambian politician. He worked as a political organizer and administrator for the ZANC in Northern Rhodesia before and after independence. He was elected to Parliament in 1973 and served for 19 years. In 2001, he was appointed Minister for the Southern Province by Levy Mwanawasa and continued in that and other government posts until 2015, having been subsequently appointed by Rupiah Banda and Michael Sata.
Senior Chieftainess Nkomeshya Mukamambo II is the chieftainship of the Soli people of Chongwe District in Lusaka Province. She has been a chieftainess in the area since 1976. She is the second female Nkomeshya since 19th century Mukamambo I who is mythologized as having spiritual powers that allowed her to change her physical form and veil her people to protect them from enemies.
Nakatindi Yeta Nganga (1922–1972) was a Lozi aristocrat and Zambian politician. Jointly one of the first women elected to the National Assembly, she was also the country's first female junior minister.
Elena Lagadinova was a Bulgarian agronomist, genetic engineer, and politician.
Ester Banda was a Zambian politician. She served as a member of the National Assembly for Roan from 1964 to 1968 and was jointly one of the first elected female MPs in Zambia.
The Committee of the Bulgarian Women’s Movement (1968-1990) (CBWM) was a government-affiliated organization in Bulgaria that aimed to improve women's participation in the labor force, decrease the declining birth rate, and promote gender equality during the Bulgarian socialist era. It accomplished these goals by advocating for women's rights, redefining gender roles, and securing state support for women's issues. Notable accomplishments include maternity leave and abortion rights and a program of social engineering to encourage men to take a more active role in child-rearing and homemaking activities. The CBWM played a prominent role in securing development aid for struggling economies in Africa and trained female leaders in Bulgaria to help feminist activists from Zambia. The committee has been recently recognized by scholars for its acute impacts of women’s rights at the international level, with many progressive policies emerging directly from the committee’s initiatives and influences. The CBWM was dissolved in 1990 after the fall of communism in Bulgaria.