WIDNet

Meet Dr Tukiya Mabula Deputy Governor Bank Of Zambia

“There is need for women to support each other “, says Dr. Mabula In this edition, Zambia National Women’s Lobby is privileged to write a brief profile of Dr. Takuya Mabula who is Deputy Governor of the Bank of Zambia. Dr Mabula attended Twapia Primary School in Ndola before moving to Mabungo, Kasisi and Silverest Primary Schools. She did her secondary education at Dominican Convent in Lusaka. A mother of two, Dr. Mabula graduated from the University of Zambia Law School in 1980 with a merit. Immediately upon graduating, she was taken on as a Staff Development Fellow (SDF) because her performance was extremely outstanding, teaching labour law to colleagues who were two years behind her in law school. After teaching for a while, Dr. Mabula left for her Masters at Harvard University in the USA for year. Upon returning, she joined the faculty of law of the University. In 1986, she left to pursue a PHD at the University of London in UK. While teaching at UNZA, Dr Mabula was involved in NGO work, where she was active in advancing children’s rights. She added that University life was quite full filling, and flexible enough for one to make a contribution outside the teaching profession. In 1997, it was time to bid farewell to teaching life and moving into the financial corporate world. She landed into a new job with the Securities and Exchange Commission as director for Licensing and Enforcement. This job gave her new areas of opportunities to make contributions to the economy and financial sectors. After two years on the job, she decided to join the Bank of Zambia. As Deputy Governor of the Bank, she is in charge of administration, human resource, ICTs, procurement, security, finance and providing support functions to the bank. She explained that the Bank has a gender policy and but a lot still need to be done to encourage women to put themselves for promotion if a position is advertised. “We encourage women to put themselves forward for promotion and we also monitor how we are doing in the area of gender. With me in this office, I will make sure that we keep a sharp eye on gender. So far there is no resistance”, she said. Dr. Mabula said women should be encouraged to join NGOs so that they could contribute adding that “the NGO sector is a good platform for women to strengthen themselves as well as a place for networking purposes”. “As women we must always put the general good above our interest. We also need to support each other and if we have certain weakness, we should find ways of addressing those weaknesses” she explained. She further explained that it is important for women in the NGOs to support women in the corporate world because “we are all there to improve women‘s welfare”. Asked about her favourite past time activity, Dr. Mabula is an avid reader about things that would help improve herself, gardening and she is also a committed Christian. She narrated that as a mother and career person, one needs to find a balance between work and family life so that the family does not suffer. She said there is need for husbands to support their spouses as partners because “if you have a spouse who is not supportive stress is likely to come in; men need to recognise the participation and competence of women “.