By STEPHEN KAPAMBWE –

WHO becomes executive mayor of Lusaka City after August 11?
Eight candidates have stepped forward to run for the mayoral position.
Among them, in no particular order, is former first lady Maureen Mwanawasa who is running on the United Party for National Development (UPND) ticket.
Besides having played the role of a first lady during the reign of her husband, the late President Levy Mwanawasa, Dr Mwanawasa comes with experience from the legal profession.
She is managing partner at Levy Mwanawasa and Company.
Dr Mwanawasa holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB), an MBA in international business and a college diploma in Cooperative Management, International Business, Trade, and Tax Law.
She has been trained at University of Zambia (UNZA), Edith Cowan University and Pepperdine University.
She is also a graduate of Cambridge Sustainable Industry Programme.
The former first lady is a corporate legal practitioner, a farmer, a human rights activist and an activist for women rights and economic empowerment.
As first lady, Dr Mwanawasa ran the Maureen Mwanawasa Community Initiative (MMCI) from January, 2001 to August 2008.
The organisation was active in areas of women economic empowerment, early childhood centres of education, HIV/AIDS, fundraising for scholarships for vulnerable children and women rights.
Therefore, she boasts of having an insight in affairs relating to social and economic challenges of the under privileged people are challenged socially and economically and resources required to offset such challenges.
Such knowledge would be useful in dealing with Lusaka’s low class townships which have mushroomed in the recent past and where the majority of residents live in abject poverty.
Dr Mwanawasa has pledged to retake control of bus stations and taxi ranks from political elements so that they are controlled by the city council.
She has further pledged to fully automate Lusaka City Council operations and maximise revenue collection in all council facilities.
She says transparency in revenue collection would be her hallmark.
The Patriotic Front (PF) is fielding Wilson Kalumba who has over 15 years of Central Bank experience.
Mr Kalumba said he will use his Central Bank experience to transform the City of Lusaka.
Mr Kalumba has worked as assistant director-financial analysis at Bank of Zambia, Bank Supervision Department.
He runs a successful business and is a chief rating analyst.
Besides that, Mr Kalumba sits on the Board of Zambia’s first credit rating agency which is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
He is on the board of directors for Trusts, Estates & International Business.
He claims to be the best candidate for the capital city’s mayoral job and says he has a clean working record.
He believes he has superior qualifications supported by massive leadership experience of having worked in reputable organisations.
He also says he has managed to run his own company for years.
The former ruling party UNIP is fielding the party’s deputy secretary general in the name of Reverend Alfred Banda.
Reverend Banda is a tested politician who had been party to a number of national programmes such as the constitutional making process, inter-party dialogue meetings and others.
Having been deputy chief executive of the UNIP, Reverend Banda carries with him a wealth of political experience that should be applicable in dealing with Lusaka city’s many challenges.
Joining the fray is former Lusaka mayor Fisho Mwale who first served as mayor of Lusaka from 1993 to 1998.
Mr Mwale is running as an independent candidate.
Mr Mwale describes himself as a passionate entrepreneur, civic leader and activist who wants to share and exchange ideas for development.
Mr Mwale is a businessman who has been actively involved in the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and is a co-founder of the Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa.
He plans t modernise unplanned settlements and Lusaka’s central business district by improving planning, service delivery and the general outlook of infrastructure.
He hopes to do this in partnership with the private sector and by using the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.
Mr Mwale who claimed to have brought the idea of the construction of the first shopping mall in Lusaka, says he was vying for the mayoral position for the second time because he wants to reinvent himself.
“I am back because I want to reinvent myself. I am going through a transformation to be there for the responsibilities that are at our disposal through the enactment of our constitution.
“I am back because the Constitution provides for that legitimacy that we yearned for back in the years,” he said.
He said the people of Lusaka should start by choosing a better leader in order to improve the city and truly make it great.
“A leader who is heart driven, one who identifies the common man and understands what Lusaka needs at every level,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
He urged Lusaka residents to choose a peace maker who unites rather than divides, a cultured leader who refrains from bringing others down.
He said Lusaka needs a leader with integrity and one who encourages diversity.
“Lusaka needs Fisho P Mwale as mayor because as an independent candidate, I am standing on a platform of peace, unity and reconciliation for the development of our city, Lusaka,” read his Facebook update.
Also running as an independent candidate is Kauta Mutuna Mwale who has pledged to provide youthful and vibrant leadership.
Mr Mwale says he will put people first in his style of leadership.
He says the Lusaka City Council already has an institutional framework and technocrats that have formulated workable strategic plans to tackle challenges like poor sanitation, slum upgrade and an improved social welfare system.
However, he laments the council lack of financial capacity to sustainably implement its own plans.
“We need to understand that the council revenue generating system is comprised of revenue from levies and other forms of taxes, mainly from council operated bus stations and markets.
However, these have been overrun by political party cadres who misappropriate at least 90 per cent of revenue which they put in their own pockets,” he indicates on his Facebook page.
He says the solution lies in ejecting the cadres and call boys from all bus stations and markets.
He urges the electorate to vote for an independent candidate who understands what goes on behind the scenes and who is willing to fight illegal activities taking place in the council.
“Join the crusade, campaign and vote for the right people for the right reasons,” he says.
Martin Maiseke is yet another independent candidate vying for the mayoral office in Lusaka.
Mr Maiseke says his vision is to improve lives for every resident of the city, from Marapodi to Kabulonga.
He writes on his Facebook page that Lusaka residents deserve better.
He says time has come  for the city to adopt better leadership.
“Applying simple and cost effective sanitation and bio-fuel production technologies is something I look forward to effectively and massively implement for my people in the greater City of Lusaka especially in the high density townships,” he says.
Mr Maiseke has put unemployment of young as a top priority and has put in place workable short and long term plans to achieve goals relating to joblessness among young people.
The Edith Nawakwi led Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) is fielding Sirre Fofana Muntanga who claims to represent the voice of the youth from the townships.
Ms Mutanga says she is youthful, dynamic, charismatic, and above all lives in the townships, among the common people.
“People in Lusaka have been yearning for an opportunity to get a leader of their choice, a leader that understands, a leader that will be available, a leader that will deliver,” writes Ms Muntanga on her Facebook page.
She says the thirst and hunger for change in the townships in Lusaka is very evident. She believes that the majority of people in Lusaka trust her because she can deliver.
She says since independence, Lusaka residents populating the townships have been subjected to drinking water from shallow wells.
“This is one of the things that we have to change in Lusaka and being one of the people that drink this kind of water daily, I know exactly what the townships need,” she writes on her Facebook page.
She further believes that it is possible for Lusaka City to have the kind of public lavatories obtaining in developed countries in the West.
The eighth candidate is the Zambia Amature Athletics Association (ZAAA) strongman Elias Mpondela whose vision is, “To ensure happiness and a decent life for all Lusaka residents through proactive and innovative stimulated development, improvement and modernisation of Lusaka while facilitating private sector growth”.
Mr Mpondela has a wealth experience, having been at the helm of the National Housing Authority (NHA), besides being associated with renowned organisations like Phoenix Contractors, Shelter Afrique, Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (as board member) and the Inter-Company Relay where he says he was privileged to provide leadership.
Mr  Mpondela describes himself as a patriotic Zambian who has answered God’s calling to serve the country in the best possible way that I can.
He said he opted to stand as an independent candidate to free himself from the divisive partisan controls that “imprison creativity and innovation, leading to narrow outlook and failure”.
He said his agenda over the next five years is to change the face of Lusaka, and change council operations.
“There is much work to be done to overturn the archaic and outdated systems of the council. We shall introduce much needed innovation and creativity, which will inspire all residents of Lusaka,” he writes in his manifesto.
He regretted that Lusaka has sunk into degradation and squalor, and has become an unsightly city riddled with life-threatening diseases arising from the lack of proper service delivery, poor sanitation and bad planning.
“It is time to introduce a stimulation plan which will put a complete end to the mess and suffering of residents,” he writes.
Mr Mpondela wants Lusaka to be dominated by the private sector, which required smooth council operations that support growth and entrepreneurship.
These are the candidates who are eyeing the job of being mayor of Lusaka after August 11.