It is not obvious in our society for people especially women to fight for their rights whenever the injustice has been done to them or other people.
Most women and girls do just suffer in silence for fear of losing their marriages, jobs, sponsorship and support just to mention a few.
But to Aisha Mambo former presenter of Malawi’s only Islamic radio, Radio Islam the story is different.
Having worked for Radio Islam for quite some time, Aisha thought of doing something different, she decided to start politics and she eventually joined the former ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) where she competed for the position of Member of Parliament for Mangochi Mkungulu .
Though Aisha had all the confidence that she was going to make it by looking the support people of the area gave her, to her surprise, she lost the primaries.
“But when l analysed the whole process in which the primaries were done, l thought it wise to seek court injunction for the primaries to be rerun because I knew something was fishy,” she said.
Mambo who hails from Chimwala village in the area of TA Chimwala in the lake shore district of Mangochi said the court didn’t hesitate to grant the injunction after being convinced with the arguments and ruled that the primaries be conducted again which she later won.
The only female MP who turned 40 on June 14 this year, attributes her success to Allah and through the support she got from her husband and people of her constituency.
“When l won the primaries, l struggled for financial and material support to use during campaign period sadly, only two if not one came to my rescue but through the grace of Allah, I made it. My husband was there and he is still there for me. I am really proud of him,” she said.
Mambo has outlined a number of activities which she wants to fulfil during her tenure as MP.
She said the malpractice of early marriages among young girls as young as thirteen years old is very common in rural areas of this country and Mangochi is one of the districts where the practice is very high.
“I will act as a role model among young girls in my area to encourage them to go to school rather than rushing into early marriages which have no future. I will also continue assisting the Muslim community in every angle,” she proudly said.
Mambo also said her victory means a lot to fellow Muslim women who for so long, have been labeled as kitchen wives.
“We have women who can make difference in their families, communities and the nation at large and I am proud to be one of them now,” said Aisha.
She further said that this should be a wakeup call to fight for their rights wherever they feel that justice has not been done to them.
In a related development for the first time in the history of Malawi multiparty democracy independents MPs have become a dominant bloc in the National Assembly, a development analysts say indicates loss of trust in political parties.
The analysts said one of the factors is lack of democracy within parties where authorities tend to impose some candidates on the party members at the grass roots level.
They said this development sees the candidates that the people want contesting on independent ticket eventually winning the national elections at the expense of political parties.
So Mambo too, was a victim of the trend because some officials of her party initially imposed a candidate which was not wanted by people.
The analysts have since advised political parties to reform and follow the will of the people.
impressive, maashaa Allah!
Comments are closed.