Chileshe Kapwepwe heads new ZRA board

Fri, 10 Mar 2017 12:48:29 +0000

By AARON CHIYANZO

THE Government has constituted the full governing board for the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) following a successful inaugural meeting held last Tuesday pursuant to the requirements of the ZRA Act, Minister of Finance Felix Mutati has said.

Mr Mutati said that the ZRA governing board, at its inaugural meeting, elected Ms Chileshe Kapwepwe as chairperson who would be assisted by Mr Alfred Lungu who was elected vice- chairperson.

“Other members of the board include the Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba, Bank of Zambia Governor Dr Denny Kalyalya, Ministry of Justice permanent secretary Ms Tandiwe Oteng, Mr James Koni from the Bankers Association of Zambia,  Mr Kamalesh Shah from Zambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Mr Musenga Musukwa from the Law Association of Zambia,” he said.

Mr Mutati congratulated the board on the successful deliberations at their inaugural meeting and that the election of Ms Kapwepwe was historic.

He explained in a statement made available to the Daily Nation that her election was historic because she became the first woman to chair the board since the formation of ZRA in 1994.

“It gave me great pleasure to constitute the board, the election of Ms Kapwepwe by the ZRA governing board to the position of chairperson, also gives me pride and confidence that the authority will become stronger at all levels and help us to seal the gaps in tax administration,” said Mr Mutati.

The minister pointed out that Ms Kapwepwe brought a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the area of public policy, financial management and governance following a career spanning over 25 years in the local and international private and public sector organisations.

Mr. Mutati congratulated Ms Kapwepwe and described her as “a well-trained professional who is profoundly gifted”.

He assured that through her, leadership talent among women in Zambia would be viewed positively by the tax paying public.

Mr Mutati explained that Ms Kapwepwe’s previous roles included that of executive director for the International Monetary Fund [IMF] Africa Group One Constituency in Washington as well as Deputy Minister of Finance and National Planning.

He said that others included being managing director of the National Airports Corporation, contracts manager at Societe General de Surveillance and that she has also served on various other boards including Bank of Zambia, BP Zambia Plc, and the Zambia Privatization Trust Fund.

Mr Mutati said Ms Kapwepwe, who is a chartered accountant by profession, was a fellow of the Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants (United Kingdom), a fellow of the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants (ZICA), and also held a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom.