Profiles In Leadership: Nkandu Luo
Nkandu Luo was born on the 21st December 1951 in Chinsali, Muchinga Province. One of eight children, Luo studied both microbiology and immunology at post-graduate level.
Scientist
Luo’s certificates in microbiology and immunology saw her career begin in education where she served as head of Pathology and Microbiology at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka. In this role she researched HIV/AIDS.
Rather embarrassingly, in an article written by Edgar Lungu titled ‘Why I chose Nkandu Luo as running mate’, he wrongly says that she “remained focused on her dream to study medicine”, an area of science which she has never studied and is not qualified within.
Political Career
She was first elected in 1996 under the former Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and served in various ministerial positions including minister of transport and communications as well as minister of health.
She was later elected in 2011 under the Patriotic Front where she served in roles such as minister of fisheries and livestock as well as education minister.
In spite of understanding the financial struggles of a student in higher education, having been to university herself, Ms Luo’s time as education minister raised some eyebrows, and not for the right reasons.
Her time in the role got off to a bad start when, in 2016, her ministry repeatedly paid student meal allowances late. These mismanaged finances caused severe distress and upset, especially for those who relied on the allowance so heavily.
With the government not listening to their pleas to make changes to the system, students felt that their only option was to protest. The government responded by shutting down the two universities affected, rather than making important changes to the way meal allowances were paid.
Students at CBU protesting the decision to scrap meal allowances in 2019.
Less than three years later Luo announced that her ministry was going to remove meal allowances all together with immediate effect. The removal of these allowances was supposed to enable the ministry of education to allow other universities to benefit from the loan scheme. However, in practice, this did not occur.
The decision left thousands of students without adequate funding to be able to feed themselves each day. They threatened that if the government did not reverse its decision to remove the stipend, they would go to court with the case. The move was described by student as unlawful, causing outrage amongst impacted individuals who said that “a greater leader has to hear the people she represents, not make decisions for them; that is dictatorship.”
In 2021 Luo was elected as Edgar Lungu’s running mate for the August 12 general elections after the current Vice President, 80-year-old Inonge Wina, decided she would retire from politics as she felt she was too old to continue. However, questions about the age of Luo have also been raised, as she is only 9 years younger than the retiree.
Luo at home
Ms Luo is a separated mother of two and has four grandchildren. She spends her free time with her close family alongside the occasional lecture.