Hichilema Swears In 24 Ministers, Sets 2031 Targets
The ceremony at State House in Lusaka also saw all 10 provincial ministers sworn in.
The new lineup includes Brenda Tambatamba, who becomes the first woman to head the mines and minerals development ministry in the mineral-rich nation. Elvis Nkandu takes over as information and media minister, a post that also makes him chief government spokesman. During Hichilema’s first term, Tambatamba served as labor and social security minister, while Nkandu led the youth, sport and arts portfolio.
Frank Moyo was named agriculture minister. Over the same period, he had been second deputy speaker in parliament.
The 24 join four ministers Hichilema named two weeks after his Sept. 1 inauguration, who hold the health, finance and national planning, green economy and environment, and foreign affairs and international cooperation portfolios.
Several of Wednesday’s appointees will run newly created ministries under a realigned government structure: Trade and Exports, Petroleum, Electricity, Industry, Culture and Arts, and Skills and Higher Education.
Hichilema has staked his second term on the Grow Zambia Agenda, after steering the southern African nation through a crippling debt crisis, drought-driven energy shortages and other setbacks. The plan sets eight sector production targets for 2031, including 3 million tons of copper, 10 million tons of grain, 10 gigawatts of electricity and 5 million tourist arrivals. He challenged his new ministers to show concrete results.
“As a government, we have a duty and a responsibility to deliver equitable development to all our people. That is why we have carefully restructured and aligned the establishment of the ministries to ensure that the machinery of government delivers for the people of Zambia,” Hichilema said in a post on Facebook after the ceremony.
Speaking to reporters after the swearing-in, Nkandu said his ministry would step up public awareness of Hichilema’s agenda to grow Zambia. He repeated the pledge when media representatives welcomed him at his office later.
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