HH must replace Kakubo with a woman

PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema must fill up the vacant position of Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation with a female candidate to narrow the gender gap on the heels of the International Women´s Day commemoration, Anthony Mukwita has said.

Mr Mukwita, an international relations analyst was reacting to President Hichilema´s lamentation that bottlenecks in the Zambian Constitution had made it hard and limited for him to have more women in the Zambian power structure.

“In Zambia, the President is the alpha and omega or numero uno for that matter. Whatever he says becomes a reality,” said Mr.

Mukwita. “He (President Hichilema) does not need a constitutional amendment to increase the number of women in his government as he can just make a statement because seas can part if he gives the word in our country.”

Mr Mukwita, a published author was speaking on a Sunday night current affairs programme aired live on KBNTV and challenged President Hichilema to fill up that vacancy with a woman and shame any of his critics

The position of Minister of Foreign Affairs has remained vacant for several months despite its importance after Mr Stanley Kakubo resigned after being involved in a mining deal with a Chinese business entity.

Sceptics have often wondered why President Hichilema has left such an important position vacant for months on end, almost giving rise to speculation that no one meets the specs for the job in his pool of legislators.

In most countries, the Minister of Foreign Affairs is a person of almost as higher a stature as the President or Prime Minister, like Sergey Lavrov of Russia, Antony Blinken of the United Sates and or David Cameron in Britain including Yusuf Tuggar of Nigeria.

Mystery still surrounds whose name Mr Hichilema will tap for the most coveted ministerial job in the country to replace Mr Kakubo as the position yawns on amidst mounting criticism by international relations pundits.