ZAMBIA ELECTS ITS FIRST FEMALE SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT

Fri 03 September 2021:

More than a week after longstanding opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema was inaugurated in as the country’s new president, Zambia’s parliament elected its first female speaker.

On Friday, Nelly Mutti, a Lusaka-based lawyer, was elected without opposition to replace Patrick Matibini, a retired high court judge who served as speaker for ten years.

We just concluded the Approbation of our Country’s First Female Speaker, Nelly Mutti and two Deputy Speakers. The First Deputy Speaker is Attractor Chisangano and Mr Moses Moyo is the Second Deputy Speaker. We wish them well as they perform their duties in Parliament. pic.twitter.com/FOcYGF9zyP

— Hakainde Hichilema (@HHichilema) September 3, 2021

Mutti was sworn in along with her two deputies – Attractor Chisangano, a member of Hichilema’s United Party for National Development (UPND), and Moses Moyo, who was elected to parliament as an independent candidate.

In his address at the ceremony, Hichilema said Mutti’s election championed the cause of women in leadership roles in Zambia.

A human rights lawyer and a former chairwoman of the country’s anti-corruption commission, Mutti will have the job to preside over a parliament where the ruling party still needs the cooperation of opposition members of parliament to make constitutional changes.

Hichilema, who has promised a “new dawn”, fired several military, police and prisons commanders just days into his rule.

The opposition and civil society groups have long accused the former government of using security apparatus to perpetrate violence and arrest critics.

Hichilema pledged to allow parliament to operate autonomously and without interference, asking MPs to prioritize the welfare of the people.

On September 10, Mutti will address the inaugural session of Zambia’s unicameral parliament, known as the National Assembly, in which he is anticipated to lay out his vision for his government’s five-year term.

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