. Nawakwi

By SAM PHIRI –
NOTHING, not even the masculine dominance seems to stand in the way of the only female presidential candidate extraordinaire Edith Nawakwi in the race to Plot One.
Her party, the Forum for Democratic Development (FDD) seems ambitious for her endorsement and that she is certain of breaking new ground of being sworn in as the first ever Zambian female president.
But is she politically ready to face the seemingly male dominated battleground? Is her name that saleable to the electorate especially after some noticeable silence in her party?
If truth be told, there has been reasonable stillness in her party’s activity with herself at the helm taking less voice to the press not until the recent past months. That silence could be attributed to a number of reasons that she attempts to outline.
“We have not been quiet. It is just that we stopped playing activists kind of politics. There is surely no need for that. What we have concentrated on is the political economy of Zambia,” she says.
The 54-year-old FDD leader may not be a rhetorical novelty or ‘political celebrity’ on the local front but has proved to be an astute contributor to many issues of national development.
Perhaps that gives her the much needed clout and muscle to face male presidential candidates in the ensuing tight and hot race to Plot One.
Actually, Ms Nawakwi is Zambia’s first elected woman president of a political party FDD – formerly led by late retired army general, Christon Tembo.
It is lucid that Ms Nawakwi might be drawing her strength from her successful records of registering three ‘firsts’.
Apart from being ‘first’ elected female president of a political party, she was also Zambia’s first woman minister of Finance between 1997 to 1999 after 33 years of Zambia’s independence.
Ms Nawakwi also set a record of being the first in that ministerial portfolio in the entire Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
Her name is also etched among women pioneers that opened the door to gender equality and representation in local politics and development in the country’s history.
She also served as minister of Labour, Agriculture and Energy.
During her nurturing of the political drive with an emphasis on gender equality, names like hers, the late Gwendolyn Konie, Inonge Mbikusita Lewanika, and Professor Nkandu Luo, with the latter being Zambia’s first woman professor, were prominent.
Academically, Ms Nawakwi possesses a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and Business Management and a post-graduate diploma in the Economics of Energy and Development from the University of London Imperial College.
Ms Nawakwi’s personality which could be described as tough minded has made her survive turbulent local political winds without necessarily minding gender attributes especially in the current race.
One interesting fact is that there are usually larger numbers of women than men participating in voting and this should certainly play to her advantage.
But the million Kwacha question begging for an answer is: is Zambia ready to be ruled by a female president?
“Yes, Zambia is very ready only that the men vying for the same position are petrified at the dea and are as using all ways possible
to hold on to the top job because should a woman win as Republican President, Zambia will never look back to vote for a man,” Ms Nawakwi believes.
Deliberately, more women were consulted on this issue, among them Stella Nvula, a Lusaka resident who says in as much as it would be generally good to support a fellow woman candidate, she is not for the idea.
“I already have a candidate and believe you me, it is not a woman. Now, talking of a female candidate, I feel Zambia does not know her that much and personally I don’t know what she has done to merit her presidential ambitions. What is she promising us?” she asks.
Despite the preceding view, Nawakwi’s background has clearly demonstrated who she is and what she has done so far. Perhaps this is why she is getting into this race without promises.
“We do not want to make promises as it is on record that many, many promises have been made but things continue happening to the contrary.
People were promised an egg per day for example. Is it happening? The answer is no,” Ms Nawakwi says.
However, like a pool of many fishes, some women feel it is time for that gender swap in the office of the president.
Siobhan Nachula, a marketing officer, says she has followed Nawakwi’s profile closely and is convinced that she makes the right female candidate.
“Nawakwi is educated and was a very successful if not the best first ever minister of Finance and if you look at her personality, she is not easily moved or swayed. These are the kind of leaders we need and as a woman, I would support her,” Nachula says.
But it seems that not many are in Ms Nachula’s bracket as it looks like a larger force of women appears inclined to be indifferent against a fellow woman with some of them using Bible scripture to justify their viewpoint.
Sharon Chisanga, a Lusaka business executive says she believes in the biblical teachings about who should head who.
“I would not vote for a female candidate because even the Bible clearly stipulates that a man is the head of the house and that a woman should be submissive to the man. So why should I change those facts?” she asks with conviction.
In a typical dictionary, democracy is described as ‘government by the people in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.’
In the phrase of Abraham Lincoln, democracy is a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
Going by the description of democracy, as stated, it might not be wrong to suggest that a majority of women are not ready to rule despite the power in their hands; a ballot cannot go on a fellow woman’s name.