WUNRN
Zambia - Strategies
for Women Political Candidates
By Nebert Mulenga
|
MANSA,
Zambia, May 27 , 2011 (IPS) - Mirriam Kauseni is on a quest to become her
town’s first ever female parliamentarian. She has yet to be elected to run for
the post by her party, the Patriotic Front (PF), but Kauseni has already been
conducting door-to-door campaigns, telling people to vote for her in the
country’s national elections.
The resident
of Mansa in the
"I have
never stopped going into the field from 2006 to-date. I have been to remote
villages in Mansa Central. My name is a household name," she says.
The PF is
yet to announce its candidates for the forthcoming general election, but
Kauseni has continued to campaign. When asked why she was campaigning before
the party made its final decision on her candidature, she tells IPS: "I
don’t know the chances but if they follow popularity of a candidate, then I
think I stand a very good chance. I am working very hard, I am campaigning, I
am on the ground to ensure the party adopts me, to ensure I win the election
after I am adopted."
This is
Kauseni’s second attempt to run for parliament. She first put herself forward
as a parliamentary candidate in
But she says
she was not elected to run by the MMD because she had no money to fund the
campaigns. She adds that she also believes she was not elected because she was
a woman. She has since defected to the PF, the country’s main opposition, which
enjoys massive support in northern
Kauseni’s
main campaign issues hinge on opening up agricultural-based factories and
markets for farming produce, as well as improving the road network in the rural
parts of the constituency.
Kauseni is not
alone in her quest. The Zambia National Women’s Lobby Group (ZNWLG), a
gender-based non-governmental organisation promoting the participation of more
women in governance, is fully behind her.
Since early
2011, the ZNWLG has been empowering prospective women politicians with skills
in public speaking, self-confidence, self-esteem, and usage of persuasive
language when articulating issues, among others. Women ‘politicians’ are also
learning about public office etiquette, the functioning of the arms of government,
and leadership in general.
Kauseni is
one of 198 women trained under the programme so far. "The (ZNWLG) training
was about encouraging us not to give in to men, not to accept any type of
intimidation, to be confident, to be visionary and to be courageous. There’s
going to be a bit of change like in the approach. They taught us how to best
approach the people," Kauseni tells IPS.
The women
being trained were floated by their political parties as prospective candidates
for parliamentary and local government seats, says Beauty Phiri, chair of the
ZNWLG.
The ZNWLG is
concerned and says the record is embarrassing for
"Our
biggest worry is that men are still the final decision makers in this. A woman
would have laid the ground, done everything in that constituency, but when it
comes to adoption, it is the men who have to make the final decision,"
Phiri comments.
"They
will tell her, ‘yes you have done everything but we feel financially you cannot
manage, so you are going to be the campaign manager for this gentleman who has
a financial muscle’."
But the
response to the ZNWLG training programme is providing a window of hope for
better things to come. Phiri explains: "The response is overwhelming. In
southern province, for example, we had a programme to train about 35 women but
45 turned up and instead of sending them away, we had to train them all."
Meanwhile,
Kauseni believes in herself and has just relinquished her position as PF
vice-treasurer for Mansa District, which she has held since 2008, to
concentrate fully on her campaign as a prospective parliamentary candidate for
Mansa Central Constituency.
"I am
going to do it, with or without the money. I talk to people; I tell them what I
stand for. With or without the money, I am going to talk to the people because
I don’t intend to buy them. I intend to talk to them."