By Savithri Rodrigo
(Commonwealth Union)_Safeguarding the wealth of Zambia for Zambians is the clarion call of New Heritage Party President Chishala Kateka, whose aspirations are to be the Republic’s President after the 2026 General Elections. Having contested the 2021 General Election as the only female presidential candidate, Kateka was placed seventh of 16 candidates.
As the opposition leader, her party’s vision for Zambia is for the country to become an economic and productivity hub in Southern Africa. A strong believer that foreign aid or capital inflows can take Zambia to the heights of a highly developed egalitarian society which maps out its own future, she is convinced that it is only Zambians themselves who can take ownership to develop their own nation.
Kateka has been formerly at the World Bank and was the first woman appointed as Chairperson at Barclays Bank Zambia/ABSA PLC and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission Boards. She is a businesswoman and respected corporate leader who represented the African Jurisdiction on the International Ethics Standard Board of Accountants (IESBA) of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) in New York for five years until 2018. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Zambia and a founder member of the New Heritage Party.
Her political philosophy and ideology are built on the platform of Africa being one country, but challenged due to being divided into several countries due to the slave trade, colonialism and neo-colonialism. Calling for complete independence of Zambia and ultimately the continent, her mission is to tilt the economic balance of power to Zambians, helping her citizens recover their sense of self-worth and dignity. With a new breed of leadership, she intends to root out corruption and abuse of power.
Pledging to make education more accessible to the vulnerable which she reiterates as a human right as the government owes every child a good education, she is also focused on augmenting industrial production in food, household goods, heavy machinery, agriculture, IT and life skill training. Believing strongly in team leadership which she draws from her experience in the corporate sphere, she promises a proactive Pan-Africanist non-aligned foreign policy that puts Zambia first. “I believe that Zambia’s diverse people, culture and common heritage, is an advantage. I intend to work with all people groups in Zambia to ensure that we bring out the best from every ethnic group…I only make one promise to the Zambian people – to safeguard the wealth of Zambia for Zambians,” she says.
