LUSAKA, Zambia
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema swore in 24 ministers Wednesday to form a unified Cabinet following his re-election to a second term in the country’s August general elections.
Hichilema also swore in all 10 provincial ministers at a ceremony held at State House in Lusaka.
Among the appointees were Brenda Tambatamba, the mineral-rich nation’s first female mines and minerals development minister, and Elvis Nkandu, the new information and media minister and chief government spokesman.
In Hichilema’s first term, Tambatamba was labor and social security minister, while Nkandu was youth, sport and arts minister.
Frank Moyo was appointed as minster of agriculture, who in the corresponding period was second deputy speaker in parliament.
The 24 joined an initial four who Hichilema appointed to the portfolios of health, finance and national planning, green economy and environment, and foreign affairs and international cooperation two weeks after his inauguration on Sept. 1.
Among the 24 were also ministers who took up portfolios at the newly created ministries of Trade and Exports, Petroleum, Electricity, Industry, Culture and Arts, and Skills and Higher Education under a realigned government system.
Having successfully navigated the southern African nation out of a crippling debt crisis and drought-induced energy shortages among other challenges, Hichilema pinned his second term on the Grow Zambia Agenda, to which he outlined eight sector production targets by the year 2031.
These included the country producing 3 million tons of copper, 10 million tons of grain, 10 gigawatts of electricity and attracting 5 million tourist arrivals, to which he challenged his appointees to showcase deliverables.
“As a government, we have a duty and a responsibility to deliver equitable development to all our people. That is why we have carefully restructured and aligned the establishment of the ministries to ensure that the machinery of government delivers for the people of Zambia,” Hichilema said in a post on Facebook after the ceremony.
Nkandu told reporters following the ceremony that his ministry would intensify public awareness on Hichilema’s agenda to grow Zambia, remarks he echoed when media representatives welcomed him later at his office.
