First Lady of Zambia

First Lady of Zambia
Incumbent
Esther Lungu

since 25 January 2015
Inaugural holder Betty Kaunda
Formation 24 October 1964

The First Lady of Zambia is the title attributed to the wife of the President of Zambia. Zambia's current First Lady is Esther Lungu, who has held the office since 25 January 2015.

The First Lady of Zambia plays the ceremonial role of the spouse of the head of state, but has often expanded their influence beyond that. For example, the wife of the country's founding president, Betty Kaunda, was viewed as the mother of the nation and known as "Mama Kaunda."[1] Maureen Mwanawasa used her platform as First Lady to be a strong advocate for safer sex for women, often handing out condoms at public events.[2]

First Ladies of Zambia

Name Term Begins Term Ends President of Zambia
Betty Kaunda[3] 24 October 1964[3] 2 November 1991[3] Kenneth Kaunda
Vera Tembo 2 November 1991 2000 (Divorced in 2001)[4] Frederick Chiluba
Office vacant 2000 2 January 2002 Frederick Chiluba
Maureen Mwanawasa 2 January 2002 19 August 2008 Levy Mwanawasa
Thandiwe Banda[5] 29 June 2008 23 September 2011 Rupiah Banda
Christine Kaseba 23 September 2011 28 October 2014 Michael Sata
Charlotte Scott 28 October 2014 26 January 2015 Guy Scott
Esther Lungu 26 January 2015 Present Edgar Lungu

See also

References

  1. James Butty, VOA staff writer (September 20, 2012). "Zambians Mourn Death of Former First Lady Betty Kaunda". VOA. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
  2. Violet Mengo, writer for the Daily Mail in Zambia and member of the Gender and Media Southern African (GEMSA) Network. (November 5, 2005). "Zambian First Lady urges women to demand safe sex". AFROL News. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 Udoh, Nse (2012-09-19). "Founding First Lady Betty Kaunda Passes Away at 84". Zambia Reports. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  4. Simwanza, Obert (2011-06-18). "Zambia's ex-president Chiluba dies". Independent Online (South Africa). Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  5. Warunga, Joseph (2010-05-17). "Meeting the first ladies of Africa". BBC News. Retrieved 2012-07-30.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/24/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.