AS A student, Dr Mutumba Mainga Bull once made the white people very uncomfortable after she and dozens of her colleagues swam in the swimming pool meant for the whites only.
Today, that would be unthinkable! She did this to make the white people realise that blacks were as much human as they were.
This incident which could have landed Dr Bull and her colleagues in jail happened during the liberation struggle. Her role was primarily played during the run-up to independence which eventually saw Zambia attaining freedom in 1964.
Dr Bull fought colonialism and oppressive laws from the battle front of being a member of the UNIP youth league under the leadership of first republican president Kenneth Kaunda.
And as Zambia turns gold this year, Dr Bull had an opportunity to reflect and share her experiences.
Dr Bull took part in the liberation struggle during her school days in Western Province which later saw her move to then Southern Rhodesia for her Form four and five as then Northern Rhodesia never offered such.
During her stay in Zimbabwe, she continued with her quest to fight for equality and further demanded for services the white people had to be offered to blacks as well.
“During our time as youths, we felt we needed to fight colonialism. It is during the youth days that one feels you can conquer the world and sometimes feel you are on top of it because of the energies you have,”
“And it was during that time that I first experienced teargas canisters while fighting against the white minority regime,” Dr Bull expressively recounted.
With the energies she was endowed with, Dr Bull was now at the College University of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
She managed to graduate with a BA Hons in History and was the first Zambian to be honoured with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in 1963 from the University of London.
Dr Bull also did a year of postgraduate research at the University of Cambridge.
She recalls that after she was done with school, she lectured at the University of Zambia from 1969 to 1973.
“My experience was somewhat exciting and challenging because that was the time the country had the first university and I was glad I was part of the group that handled the first bunch whom I now see holding senior positions in Government and certain institutions,” she said.
Coming from a background where she took part in fighting against minority rule in Zambia, Dr Bull successfully contested the Nalolo Constituency seat in Western Province in 1973; this signified her entry in active politics.
Dr Bull made history when she was appointed first woman cabinet minister in the UNIP government. “I was first appointed health minister and that meant being in charge of all the health institutions in the country,”
My experience was both challenging and exciting again because it was during that period when Zambia has just gained its independence and there was literally nothing in terms of health infrastructure and had to start building,” recounts Dr Bull.
Guess it was somewhat challenging for her to piece up the health infrastructure at both district and provincial level. She notes “this was the period when I did a lot of travelling both locally and internationally looking for manpower because Zambia did not have nurses and doctors.”
Despite the many projects she undertook during this period, Dr Bull, a mother of three never forsook her family and ensured she provided all the love and care they needed.
With the massive developments that were taking place in Zambia and being one of the first countries to be independent in Southern Africa, lots of freedom fighters and refugees were housed here.
And that meant they were allowed to use the facilities such as hospitals, clinics and schools which saw to a growth in demand of more infrastructure.
“The fact that Zambia housed freedom fighters and other displaced people, we were made to suffer for that. Colonists would come here to attack the freedom fighters and in the process, bombs were thrown and damaged the buildings; which meant we had to start all over again erecting the buildings,”
“It was particularly worse in my constituency because it was surrounded by landmines and it was very dangerous for my people but thank you to some progressive countries which did not support the idea of colonialism,” said Dr Bull.
In 1976 Mutumba was transferred to the Ministry of Commerce but that was before the economy began to crumble. That period came when the copper prices started going down leading to the collapse of the Zambian economy.
The further collapse of the economy saw the ousting of the UNIP government from power, this forced Dr Bull to leave active politics in 1991.
In 1996 Dr Bull re-joined the University of Zambia as a senior research fellow.
She was the Director of the Institute of Economic and Social Research at University of Zambia, for three years from 2005 to 2008.
Currently she continues at the institute as a Senior Research Fellow and coordinator of the Governance Research Programme of the institute.
Certainly she has been and still is a force to reckon with and does not regret having joined politics.
“When I joined politics, I had certain goals in mind and I can safely say I do not regret having joined and I wish many more women could join,” Dr Bull advised.
She said it is now that many more women are joining politics because women movements are speaking for them unlike in the early days.
And on the supposed violence in politics, Dr Bull said it was more reason why women have to join politics to stop the violence.
She said women cannot continue watching from the terraces but should join politics in order to stop the violence.
No comments:
Post a Comment