Vice President Mutale Nalumango was born in Kaputa District on New Year’s Day in 1955. Her father passed away when she was only five years old and she was raised by her mother, Esnart Mukupa. Mrs Nalumango grew up in Kaputa, completed school at Kasama Girls Secondary School before training at Nkrumah Teacher’s Training College and launching an illustrious teaching career that would span 25 years.
Mrs Nalumango is married to Bishop Max Lubinda Nalumango and together they have three children and grandchildren. She is a Reverend and devout Christian with service for the people at the core of her beliefs. Naturally, her gift for recognising human problems and driving solutions led her to politics. In 2001, she was elected Kaputa Member of Parliament on the MMD ticket. The new appointment came with sacrifice and saw her step away from her role as Deputy Head Teacher to contest in the parliamentary elections and dedicate her life to her childhood dream of improving lives in her home district, Kaputa.
Mrs Nalumango is decisive, concise and leadership is her terrain. From her days as a teacher, she was an active unionist and founding member of Secondary School Teachers’ Union (SESTUZ). During her two terms of office as MP, Kaputa transformed from one of the poorest regions in Zambia to a district with standard social services, a functional communication grid and Kaputa District Hospital was constructed. Thereafter, Mrs Nalumango was elected as the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and later appointed as Minister of Labour and Social Security before she transitioned to the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services position that would earn her place as Chief Government Spokesperson.
In 2013, Mrs Mutale Nalumango was drawn to the UPND manifesto and made her move from MMD. She was appointed Vice President of UPND in 2021 after serving as National Chairlady since 2013. Upon becoming Vice President-elect, Mrs Nalumango expressed her gratitude to President Hichilema for showing confidence in her by choosing her as his running mate in the 2021 Presidential election. Contrary to assertions that politics in Africa is about self-aggrandisement, Mrs Nalumango expressed her desire for a new kind of leadership that adheres to the rule of law and tenets of good governance.
Learn more about the Office of the Vice President on the OVP website here.
You can follow the Vice President’s engagements on her social media platform here.