By Isaac Zulu
National Democratic Congress party leader Saboi Imboela has urged female members of parliamentto be vibrant and forceful.
And Imboela attributed the low participation of female members of parliament in Parliamentary debates to the reduction in the number of women in the current Parliament.
Speaking to Daily Revelation, Imboela observed that the number of the femalefolk in the current Parliament has drastically reduced, which she said has compromised the debate from female parliamentarians.
She explained that the womenfolk in the country were anticipating that President Hakainde Hichilema will appoint more women among the nominated members of parliament.
“If you look at the current Parliament, the number of women has reduced, which is unfortunate. I am really disappointed. The reason why we talk about having 30 per cent representation is because it comes from a biological chemical explanation that for you to get that chemical reaction you need to have 30 percent of that component of a chemical. In our 2016 Parliament we had 16 per cent women. Instead of going up towards 30 percent, this current Parliament has actually dropped to 12 per cent,” Imboela said. “What we expected from the President is that when choosing the extra (nominated) eight MPs, he should have chosen four women and four men. If not, three men and five women. But he chose only two women and the rest, the six are men. So the number of women has drastically reduced in Parliament. And because of that, it has compromised the debate by female parliamentarians in the current Parliament.”
She proposed that there is need to adopt a proportional representation electoral system in order to have more women in political positions.
“For me, moving forward, I would encourage all political parties in the country to adopt as many women as possible. And also, before the end of this Parliament, we should have a proportional representation as an electoral system so that we can have more women in Parliament. Currently the debates from female MPs have gone down because the numbers are fewer. And the voice of the woman has been reduced drastically,” she emphasised.
And Imboela has implored female parliamentarians to be vibrant and forceful as they discharge their duties, instead of feeling intimidated.
“But I would like to encourage the women that are there as members of parliament to be vibrant and they should be forceful. They should not be intimidated, they should stand up to the truth and speak for the people in their respective constituencies. They should be the voice of those that they represent in Parliament,” said Imboela.
