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Joseph Munsanje Sworn In for Second Term as Mbabala MP

The Zambian Economist — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 15:41:32 +0000

Joseph Munsanje took the oath of office as Member of Parliament for Mbabala on Tuesday, joining more than a hundred elected legislators sworn in at the start of Zambia’s 2026-2031 National Assembly.

By The Zambian Economist Analyst

Key takeaways

Joseph Munsanje was sworn in as Mbabala’s MP on 8 September, as Speaker Nelly Mutti administered the oath to elected members of the new National Assembly.
It is Munsanje’s second term. The UPND legislator first won the Southern Province seat in 2021 and was returned to Parliament after the 13 August general election.
Vice President Mutale Nalumango took her own oath a day earlier, on 7 September, formally opening the five-year 2026-2031 parliamentary term.
Mbabala is a 12-ward constituency in the northern part of Choma District, Southern Province. February 2026 boundary talks carved a new Choma South constituency out of neighbouring Choma Central, leaving Mbabala’s own boundaries unchanged.
Munsanje holds an MPhil in Development Studies and has worked as a development specialist and social worker; Parliament’s record of his qualifications does not itemise a doctorate.

Munsanje was among the elected members Speaker Nelly Mutti swore in at Parliament Buildings in Lusaka on 8 September, as the National Assembly worked through the roughly 224 constituency and nominated seats returned from the 13 August general election. The exercise followed Vice President Mutale Nalumango’s own oath a day earlier, which formally opened the chamber’s 2026-2031 term.

A second term for Mbabala’s UPND MP

Munsanje represents Mbabala, a 12-ward constituency in the northern part of Choma District in Southern Province. He first won the seat for the UPND in 2021, succeeding a line of MPs that includes Emmanuel Hachipuka and Ephraim Belemu, both of whom also sat for the party. Tuesday’s oath returns him for a second term after the 13 August general election, in which President Hakainde Hichilema was also re-elected.

Parliament’s own biographical record lists Munsanje’s qualifications as a Grade 12 certificate, a Bachelor of Social Work, an MPhil in Development Studies and a Certificate in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, with a professional background as a development specialist and social worker. He was born on 14 February 1973 and is married.

A constituency left intact by this year’s boundary review

Mbabala’s borders were a live question earlier in 2026. During February’s delimitation sittings, stakeholders adopted a model that created a new Choma South constituency by dividing neighbouring Choma Central, an arrangement that left Mbabala intact. The distinction matters locally: Choma South’s first MP, Trevor Mwiinde, was sworn in this week too, but Munsanje’s own constituents kept the same ward boundaries and Constituency Development Fund allocation they had going into the election.

That continuity carries into the new term’s priorities. Mbabala’s local economy is predominantly agricultural, and the constituency’s CDF allocation has previously supported health infrastructure alongside the roads, schools and water projects typical of rural Southern Province seats. What Munsanje’s second term adds to that record is now the practical test facing his constituents.

What comes next

The National Assembly’s swearing-in continues over several sittings before members proceed to elect a Speaker and hear the presidential address that formally opens the legislative programme for 2026 to 2031. Munsanje joins a UPND caucus that returned with a substantial majority of the roughly 224 seats declared following the 13 August poll.

Joseph Munsanje takes the oath of office as Member of Parliament for Mbabala, 8 September 2026.

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Mwiinde Sworn In as Choma South MP, Renews Call to Respect Election Outcomes

The Zambian Economist — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 15:02:32 +0000

By The Zambian Economist Analyst

Key takeaways

Trevor Mwiinde took the oath of office as Choma South MP on 8 September, one of 112 MPs sworn in by Speaker Nelly Mutti at Parliament Buildings in Lusaka.
Days earlier, on One Love Radio in Lusaka, he had urged candidates who lost the 13 August election to accept the result and let newly elected MPs serve rather than tie them up in court.
His comments land as 67 parliamentary election petitions, close to 30% of the 224 seats declared, sit before Zambia’s High Courts, 41 of them filed in Lusaka alone.
Under electoral law, an MP facing a petition keeps the seat until the case is decided, a process the law requires to conclude within 90 days of filing.
Mwiinde asked specifically that newly elected youthful and female MPs be given room to work without “unnecessary distractions.”

Trevor Mwiinde raised his right hand and took the oath of office as Member of Parliament for Choma South on 8 September, one of 112 MPs sworn in at Parliament Buildings in Lusaka by Speaker Nelly Mutti. Choma South is a new constituency, carved out in the 2025 delimitation exercise, and Mwiinde’s swearing-in formally closes out a contest he had already spent the past three weeks talking about from the other side of the podium: as UPND deputy national youth chairman urging losing candidates elsewhere to accept theirs.

“Let us respect the outcome”

Speaking on One Love Radio in Lusaka days before his own swearing-in, Mwiinde had appealed to candidates who lost Zambia’s 13 August general election to let the process stand. “With due respect, let us respect the outcome of the immediate past elections and give the newly elected Members of Parliament an opportunity to serve,” he said.

He was speaking directly to the backlog of election petitions that losing candidates have filed against the results, and he singled out one group he wants protected from the disruption: newly elected youthful and female MPs, who he said should be allowed to work, serve their constituents and deliver on their mandates without “unnecessary distractions.”

Inside the petitions backlog

The numbers explain why Mwiinde felt the appeal was necessary. Once the 14-day window to file after the 13 August vote closed, 67 parliamentary election petitions had landed in Zambia’s High Courts, touching close to 30% of the 224 parliamentary seats the Electoral Commission of Zambia declared. Lusaka High Court alone is carrying 41 of them. Losing candidates cite grounds ranging from vote buying to defamation and political violence.

Zambian electoral law gives an MP whose election is challenged the right to keep the seat while the petition runs its course, and it requires each case to be heard and determined in open court within 90 days of filing. That timeline means most of the current backlog should be resolved by early December, but it also means dozens of newly elected MPs are governing under a live legal cloud for their first months in office. Not every petition survives that long: Kanchibiya’s Sunday Chanda withdrew his own challenge this month, citing a doubled Constituency Development Fund allocation that followed from the same delimitation exercise that created seats like Choma South.

A crowded day of oaths

Mwiinde was in good company on 8 September. The Speaker also swore in Jacqueline Sabao for a second term as Chikankata MP, Kakubo for a third term as Kapiri Mposhi West MP, Romeo Kangombe for a third term as Sesheke East MP, and independent MP Iris Kaingu for the Mwandi seat. For Mwiinde, a first-time MP taking up a constituency that did not exist at the last election, the day carried a different weight: it was both his own first appearance on the order paper and, in his telling, evidence that the process he had been defending on air actually delivers a working Parliament.

What Choma South is asking for

Mwiinde used his first remarks as MP to lay out what the constituency needs rather than dwell on the campaign. He pointed to farmers who depend on dams for gardening and livestock and struggle through drought years, and pledged to push for better road networks and the reopening of the dormant Masuku railway line to support animal husbandry in the area. On social infrastructure, he was blunt: “Choma South, Choma Rural has never had a hospital,” and the constituency has no mortuary and only one government secondary school. He said he would lobby for a hospital, mortuary facilities and a tertiary technical training institution.

Why it matters beyond Choma South

A parliamentary term that opens with roughly a third of its seats under legal challenge is not, on its own, a governance crisis: the law anticipates exactly this scenario and builds in a fixed clock to resolve it. But it does mean donors, investors and civil servants dealing with the new intake in Southern Province and elsewhere should expect some MPs’ authority to carry an asterisk until their petitions clear, and it puts a premium on the courts meeting the 90-day deadline rather than letting cases drift. Mwiinde’s appeal, echoed by other UPND figures since the election, is as much about protecting the functioning of the Ninth Assembly as it is about individual seats.

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Jacqueline Sabao Sworn In for Second Term as Chikankata MP

The Zambian Economist — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:28:00 +0000

Jacqueline Sabao took the oath of office as Member of Parliament for Chikankata on Tuesday, joining more than a hundred elected legislators sworn in at the start of Zambia’s 2026-2031 National Assembly.

By The Zambian Economist Analyst

Key takeaways

Jacqueline Sabao was sworn in as Chikankata’s MP on 8 September, as Speaker Nelly Mutti administered the oath to elected members of the new National Assembly.
It is Sabao’s second term. The UPND legislator first won the Southern Province seat in 2021 and was returned to Parliament after the 13 August general election.
Vice President Mutale Nalumango took her own oath a day earlier, on 7 September, formally opening the five-year 2026-2031 parliamentary term.
In a statement marking the occasion, Sabao said her priority is ensuring Chikankata’s development needs and the concerns of its 14 wards reach the National Assembly.
She campaigned in April and August on continuity, citing infrastructure and agricultural projects delivered during her first term; specific commitments for the new term have not yet been published.

Sabao was among the elected members Speaker Nelly Mutti swore in at Parliament Buildings in Lusaka on 8 September, as the National Assembly worked through the roughly 224 constituency and nominated seats returned from the 13 August general election. The exercise followed Vice President Mutale Nalumango’s own oath a day earlier, which formally opened the chamber’s 2026-2031 term.

A second term after a continuity campaign

Sabao, who represents Chikankata District in Southern Province, first won the seat for the UPND in 2021. She opened her re-election campaign in April on a message of continuity, telling residents she wanted to “continue from where we have stopped,” and closed it in August with a Sunday appeal built around farming, youth opportunities and community participation.

Her campaign did not publish new project budgets or specific targets for a second term, a gap this publication noted at the time. Tuesday’s swearing-in starts the clock on delivering whatever detail follows.

Sabao’s statement on taking office

Marking the oath, Sabao framed the day as the start of a new phase of responsibility rather than the end of the campaign.

“This moment marks the beginning of my responsibility to represent the people of Chikankata in Parliament and to contribute to national law-making, oversight and discussions on matters affecting our constituency and our country. I accept this responsibility with humility and a firm commitment to serve our people.”

She said the campaign period was now behind her and pointed to three priorities for the term ahead: listening to communities, representing their priorities, and engaging government on Chikankata’s development needs.

“My responsibility is to ensure that the voices of our people are heard in the National Assembly and that the issues affecting our communities receive the attention they deserve. I know that parliamentary representation must ultimately be measured by what it delivers for the people.”

Sabao said she intends to work with traditional leaders, government institutions and “all stakeholders who share the desire to see Chikankata move forward,” describing the term ahead as a shared undertaking rather than a personal mandate.

What comes next for Chikankata

Chikankata is a single constituency of 14 wards roughly 68 kilometres from Lusaka, and its local economy depends heavily on agriculture. The Constituency Development Fund has been the main channel for local projects during Sabao’s first term, and her own account of that period, 85 projects across all 14 wards, has not been independently itemised in public reporting.

Sabao was previously recognised with the Nelly Mutti Outstanding Woman MP Overall Award, according to the National Assembly of Zambia. What her second term adds to that record, in schools, roads, water points and agricultural support that reach Chikankata’s wards, will be the practical test of Tuesday’s promises.

Jacqueline Sabao takes the oath of office as Member of Parliament for Chikankata, 8 September 2026.

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Kakubo Sworn In as MP for Kapiri Mposhi West, His Third Parliamentary Term

The Zambian Economist — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 09:22:12 +0000

Kakubo takes the oath for a constituency that did not exist five years ago, and keeps a sitting Cabinet minister in the National Assembly.

By The Zambian Economist Analyst

Key takeaways

Stanley Kakubo, UPND, took the oath of office as MP for the newly created Kapiri Mposhi West Constituency in the National Assembly.
He won the seat in the August 2026 general election with 8,509 votes, beating independent candidate Jackline Nkausu by more than 5,500 votes in a four-way race.
Kapiri Mposhi West is one of two constituencies carved from the old Kapiri Mposhi seat after the Electoral Commission’s boundary delimitation; UPND also holds Kapiri Mposhi East.
This is Kakubo’s third consecutive term representing the area, after first winning Kapiri Mposhi in 2016 while UPND was in Opposition, then again in 2021.
Kakubo is also Zambia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Zambian ministers must hold a parliamentary seat, so the win keeps a sitting Cabinet member in the National Assembly.

Stanley Kakubo stood in the National Assembly chamber this week and took the oath of office for a constituency that carries his name on the ballot for the third time running, though its boundaries are new. Kapiri Mposhi West did not exist in its current form until the Electoral Commission of Zambia’s delimitation exercise redrew the old Kapiri Mposhi seat ahead of the August 2026 general election, splitting it into Kapiri Mposhi West and Kapiri Mposhi East.

Kakubo, standing for the ruling United Party for National Development, polled 8,509 votes against independent candidate Jackline Nkausu’s 2,932, according to the returning officer’s declaration reported by Lusaka Times. Berlington Mubanga of the National Restoration Party for Unity and Prosperity took 2,858 votes, and independent Kelvin Muyowe took 1,024. Out of 15,966 votes cast in the constituency, 643 were rejected. UPND’s strength in the area went beyond the parliamentary contest: the party won 16 of 18 local government seats across both Kapiri Mposhi constituencies.

Third term, new boundaries

Kakubo first entered Parliament in 2016 as MP for Kapiri Mposhi, at a time when UPND sat in Opposition under Hakainde Hichilema. He held the seat again in the 2021 election that brought Hichilema and UPND to power, and was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation shortly after. The 2026 delimitation then split his old constituency in two, and voters in the western half returned him for a third term under the new name.

Delimitation changes like this one are easy to miss next to the presidential race, but they reshape who sits in the National Assembly and how safe an incumbent’s margin really is. A minister who has spent a decade building a base in one constituency does not automatically carry that base into a redrawn one. Kakubo’s result, a win by more than 5,500 votes, suggests the boundary change did little to dent his standing in the area.

Why a minister needs his own seat

Zambia’s Cabinet is drawn from sitting members of the National Assembly, so a minister who loses their constituency loses their ministry with it. Kakubo’s win removes that risk for at least the next five years and lets him continue as the country’s top diplomat without an interruption tied to a parliamentary by-election. For a ministry currently managing Zambia’s relations with creditors, regional blocs and investors, that continuity is not a small detail.

What Kakubo said

In a statement after the ceremony, Kakubo described the oath as “more than a constitutional requirement,” calling it “a solemn promise to serve with integrity, courage and dedication.” He framed the win as part of a longer arc rather than a single victory: “Three elections. Three mandates. But one enduring purpose: to serve the people and my Country.”

That framing will be tested less by ceremony than by delivery. Kapiri Mposhi West inherits the development backlog of the old constituency, from road and health infrastructure to the market access questions that shape rural incomes in Central Province. Whether a third mandate translates into faster progress on those fronts is the question voters in the new constituency will be asking long after the flowers from this week’s swearing-in have been cleared from the chamber.