Tue, 02 May 2017 10:21:07 +0000
By ANNIE ZULU
ZAMBIAN politicians should emulate first republic president Kenneth Kaunda’s passion for women empowerment, Women for Change (WFC) executive director Lumba Siyanga has said.
Ms Siyanga noted that Dr. Kaunda emancipated women in Zambia in terms of participation in politics.
She called for the inclusion and participation of women in all spheres of development, urging politicians to encourage women participation in politics.
Ms Siyanga said this in her message to Dr Kaunda on his 93rd birthday.
She also saluted Dr. Kaunda’s achievement of liberating Zambia from colonial rule.
“Women in Zambia must not be left on the sidelines of development by denying them access to decision making positions, for their skills and knowledge are required for the development and benefit of Zambia,” Ms Siyanga said.
And Ms Siyanga has lamented that 53 years after attaining political independence, Zambia still had not achieved 50 percent of women representation in Parliament, Cabinet and local government.
“As a country, we’ve continued to relegate women to dancers and praise singers for male politicians in most instances. While there is the Gender Equity and Equality Act in place, there is currently no legislation and structures that support female representation in deci-sion making,” she said.
