HH Confirms Nalumango As Running Mate

United Party for National Development presidential candidate Hakainde Hichilema has confirmed that party vice-president Mutale Nalumango will be his running mate in the general elections this August. 

Mr Hichilema and Ms Nalumango officially filed their nomination papers at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre yesterday. They were accompanied by other members of the UPND Alliance, including Kelvin Bwalya Fube, Felix Mutati, Charles Milupi and Charles Maboshe. 

The party leaders were welcomed in Lusaka by tens of thousands of supporters lining the roads to the conference centre.    

Ms Nalumango has been HH’s presumed running mate since she was appointed UPND vice president in February. 

She previously served as deputy speaker in the National Assembly and was a Member of Parliament for Kaputa Constituency for ten years between 2001 and 2011.  

A teacher by profession, Ms Nalumango served as vice-president of the Secondary Schools’ Teachers Union of Zambia before entering politics in 2001. 

She has also worked as a Cabinet minister in charge of Labour and Social Services under the Mwanawasa administration and was the first woman to become a chief government spokesperson when she was Minister of Information and Broadcasting. She was also the first woman to hold the position of deputy speaker in the National Assembly. 

HH celebrated the announcement of Ms Nalumango’s candidacy on Facebook yesterday, writing “She wasn’t my choice alone. I listened to you all. She’s Mutale Nalumango and she’s the next Vice President of the Republic of Zambia.” 

It follows President Lungu’s announcement of his running mate last week: Nkandu Luo. The choice has been seen as highly controversial, following Luo’s disastrous tenure as Higher Education Minister and her track record of tribalism and divisiveness.