Nancy Tembo

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Nancy Tembo serving as Minister of Forestry and Natural Resources in 2021

Nancy Tembo is a Malawian politician. She serves as Minister of Forestry and Natural Resources in the Cabinet of Malawi. She is also a Member of Parliament (MP) representing constituency in the National Assembly of the Republic of Malawi. She ran as an independent candidate after the bungled 2018 Malawi Congress Party primary elections and went on to secure a landslide victory in the 2019 Malawian general election.[1][2] She was the voice of the MCP (then the main opposition) during the Bingu wa Mutharika Presidency (2009-2012). She was detained and badly beaten along with protest leaders such as Billy Mayaya and Undule Mwakasungula during the infamous Protests on July 20, 2011 where 22 people were killed by security forces.[3] She was the chairperson of the Parliamentary SubCommittee on reproduction [2] and she also chaired The African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption (APNAC)-Malawi during her first term as Member of Parliament (2004-2009).[4][5]

Personal life and education[]

Nancy Tembo was born in 1959, in Mangochi, Malawi from Monica Msosa (née Minofu) and Noel Golden Grey Msosa.[6] She comes from Malindi, Malawi, Mangochi. She attended St Mary’s Secondary School, Zomba and Chancellor College. Her husband is Morgan Tembo who was the Finance Director of Limbe Leaf Tobacco Company.[6] Together they have six children. Her husband's uncle is the politician John Tembo and hence a cousin to de facto first lady Cecilia Tamanda Kadzamira.[6] Tembo has a masters degree from the University of Leeds.[7]

Political career[]

Nancy began her political career when she ran for MP in the 2004 Malawian general election and won[7] the Lilongwe City South West Constituency seat. During this term she also served as Publicity Secretary and Spokesperson for the Malawi Congress Party. In the 2009 general election she failed to win a second term, losing to a DPP candidate. In 2012 she was appointed a Commissioner for the (MEC) and served until 2015. During the controversial 2014 general elections, she led an MEC commissioner revolt seeking electoral justice and demanding a recount of votes before a winner was announced. The recount failed based on a legal technicality and former President Peter Mutharika was announced the winner much to the disgruntlement of many.

Tembo meeting Scotland's first Minister Nicola Sturgeon at COP26 in 2021

In 2018 she ran in the MCP primaries in her former constituency. On the day of the primaries she was announced the winner and her rival Rhino Chiphiko and his supporters quietly left the venue through the back gate. Some media reports were announcing Chiphiko as the winner and the MCP also announced him as the winner.[8] This dispute led to Hon. Tembo running on an independent ticket where she won[9] with a landslide of 25,000+ votes. She beat all candidates from DPP and UTM including her MCP rival Chiphiko who came in third position.

After her victory, she engaged herself in the fight for electoral justice seeking the nullification of the 2019 presidential elections. She joined colleagues in the grouping of nine political parties, led by Lazarus Chakwera. Their efforts led to the birth of the 3rd Republic and election of Chakwera as the sixth President of Malawi.

She was appointed as Minister in President Chakwera's inaugural cabinet and sworn in on 10 July 2020. In March 2021 she was involved with tree planting by Rotary International. She was encouraging local businesses to get involved in planting trees noting that the mountains around Blantyre are bare.[10] Her ambition is to replace charcoal burning with wood burning.[11] After a year in office her resignation was demanded after it emerged that $50m had disappeared that was intended to fund a seven year long tree planting exercise. Tembo noted that this happened before she came to power.[12] In August 2021 Malawi becomes the Chair of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), and she took over the leadership of the cluster on environment, natural resources, and tourism.[7]

In November 2021 she was in Glasgow at COP26 after agreeing collaboration and support from the UK government.[13]

References[]

  1. ^ [1][dead link]
  2. ^ a b "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 26, 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ [2][dead link]
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved August 5, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 30, 2011. Retrieved August 5, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ a b c inpolitix.com. "Malawi | InPolitiX.com". Malawi | InPolitiX (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  7. ^ a b c "Speaker Nancy TEMBO". IUCN World Conservation Congress 2020. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  8. ^ "MCP confirms Chipiko victory against Nancy Tembo". Malawi Nyasa Times - News from Malawi about Malawi. 2018-09-21. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  9. ^ Nthenda, Gladys. "I've always been MCP-Nancy Tembo". Kulinji. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  10. ^ "Lilongwe Rotary Club in tree planting drive: Minister Tembo says corporate world not doing enough". Malawi Nyasa Times - News from Malawi about Malawi. 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  11. ^ "Meet the eight African women shaping the future of the continent". Landscape News. 2021-05-25. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  12. ^ Mzungu, Watipaso (2021-07-16). "Malawi: Minister Nancy Tembo Exonerates Herself From the K40bn Plunder". allAfrica.com. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  13. ^ "UK minister tips Malawi on climate change". The Nation Online. 2020-10-09. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
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