Aisha Mambo-Adams – Mangochi Nkungulu Constituency

You have nothing to lose when you show humanity, Aisha Mambo-Adams, Member of Parliament (MP) for Mangochi Nkungulu notes.

She considers it a blessing to have been approached by people from her constituency to represent them in Parliament at a time when she had no wish to join politics and had no campaign resources.

“When Allah says yes, no matter how hard it is, you will find a way out. I am a testimony. People say where there is a successful woman there is a man behind; with the encouragement and support of my husband I could afford an everlasting smile on May 19, 2014.  I admit it was not easy, but that election made me stronger in politics,” she says.

Mambo-Adams, 44, grew up in Chiwaula Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Chimwala im Mangochi where she was raised in an Islamic way of life.

After the secondary education, she joined teaching in 1994.

After six years of teaching, she joined Radio Islam in 2000 becoming one of the first voices on the radio.

“I will live to remember this. I worked as a broadcaster responsible for programme production and presentation; reporter and news presenter as well as continuity announcer,” she says.

While broadcasting, however, she felt something was missing. She had the experience, but no papers. This drove her to join Blantyre International University (BIU) for a degree.

She boasts of having delivered on her promises during her first term of office.

“Fulfilling my 2014 campaign promises has given me high chances of retaining my seat in the forth coming tripartite elections. The constituency has worn a new face with the developmental projects I have implemented, including, electricity at Chapola Village and a kitchen block at Mpale School.

Other developments are the provision of water throughout the constituency, under five clinics, bridges, school blocks, T/A Chimwala’s office, markets, teachers houses, ambulance and maintaining roads,” she says.

Above all, she is happy that during her four years in office, she has been part of the legislature that passed a number of laws that will help improve the welfare and lives of children and women if implemented.

Such laws include the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act as well as the Trafficking in Persons Act.

She calls on the public to vote more women into parliament because they have first hand information on all the problems faced in the world.

“As women, we are the most affected by problems. We are, therefore, well placed to come up with laws to change situations. We need more women in Parliament. Apart from that, women are less corrupt and corruption is the biggest enemy of development which is making our people poorer each day,” says Mambo-Adams.

She calls on women to support each other and for the general public to support them so that the 50/50 representation of men and women in Parliament can be attained in the 2019 tripartite elections.

“The few women that are currently in parliament have proved that women can, by performing well in their respective areas,” she observes.

However, she notes that some quarters do not believe that women can lead, which is a challenge. The other challenge, she says, is the high expectation from the voters; most of whom she says do not understand the roles of MPs.

“They want the MP to provide them with food, shelter, soap, school fees, cash, and transport to the hospitals for instance. I think the solution for this would be for the civil society organisations to sensitise communities on the roles of MPs. We cannot speak for ourselves because the consequences or reaction would be bad,” she explains.