by Patson Phiri – SANF 08 No 77
Only three women have been appointed cabinet ministers in the new government that was announced by newly elected Zambian President Rupiah Banda.
The three are Sarah Sayifwanda who is the new Minister for Gender and Development, Catherine Namugala who was appointed Minister of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources, and Dora Siliya who was reappointed Minister of Communication and Transport.
The three were also part of the previous cabinet led by the late President Levy Mwanawasa, announced in October 2006.
Sayifwanda was the former Minister of Agriculture and Co-operatives before her recent appointment, and Namugala was the Minister of Community Development and Social Services, while Siliya has retained her portfolio.
In the 2006 cabinet, Zambia had five women ministers. Two of these were not included in the new cabinet announced by Banda on 14 November after his victory in the 30 October presidential election.
According to a statement by Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF), the new Zambian cabinet has failed to address the gender gap in terms of women’s participation in positions of power.
The report urged Zambia to strive towards the Southern African Development Community (SADC) goal of 50 percent women in decision-making positions, through taking action that creates pathways for women’s participation in politics.
Addressing a media conference in Lusaka after the cabinet announcement, WiLDAF Chairperson Joyce Macmillan, said women enjoyed a numerical advantage in terms of Zambia’s voters’ roll, constituting 52.02 percent of the registered 6.9 million voters, yet they were only able to achieve a 13.6 percent representation in the new cabinet.
Zambia’s cabinet still falls short of the target of the 1997 SADC Declaration on Gender and Development which proposed that by 2005 at least 30 percent of positions of power in the public and private sector should be held by women.
At the 2005 SADC Summit in Botswana, Heads of State and Government endorsed the African Union position which provides for 50 percent target of women in all political and decision-making positions by 2015.
The endorsement finds echo in the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development which commits member countries to 50 percent of women in all political and decision-making positions.
The protocol was signed by Heads of State and Government at the 28th SADC Summit held in August 2008 in South Africa, following several years of consultation at ministerial level and wide consultations with other stakeholders.
In the SADC region, South Africa has the largest women representation in cabinet with 42.8 percent, followed by Botswana with 28.6 percent, Lesotho with 23.3 percent and Malawi with 20 percent.
The rest of the other countries have less than 20 percent women representation in cabinet with the Democratic Republic of Congo having the least representation of 2.5 percent and Mauritius with 4 percent.
Before the recent appointments, Zambia had a 23.8 percent women representation in cabinet.
Zambians went to the polls on 30 October after the death of Mwanawasa in August. Banda won the election, beating Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front, Hakainde Hachilema of the United Party for National Development and Godfrey Miyanda of the Heritage Party.
