Background
Andrew Mutemba wasborn on August 12, 1929, at Kasama in the Northern Province.
Andrew Mutemba wasborn on August 12, 1929, at Kasama in the Northern Province.
Educated at Kasama and Mufulira then at Munali Secondary School. He began teaching in the Copperbelt at Mufulira and continued his studies privately. He gained his General Certificate of Education from London University and obtained a diploma in administration after attending a short course at Oxford University in 1961. Later he was awarded a diploma in African History and Political Science from the American University in Washington, USA.
His party work began when he joined the ANC in 1949. During the next nine years he became district chairman for Mufulira and then provincial president for the Western Province. After Kaunda’s break with Nkumbula and the
ANC he joined the new Zambian National Congress and was gaoled with the other political detainees in 1959. After his release he became UNIP provincial president for the Western Province and was promoted to be the party’s chief administrative secretary in 1970.
After entering Parliament in 1964 as MP for Kitwe North he was appointed Minister of State for the Copperbelt. From 1967 to 1968 he was Minister of State for Cooperatives, Youth and Social Services. Next he was switched to be Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting and Tourism and then was Minister of State for Education for three months until his appointment as Ambassador to Ethiopia in December 1969. He became Ambassador to the USA, Chile and Brazil in 1970 and returned home the following year to be Minister of Southern Province with cabinet rank.
Former schoolmaster whose administrative abilities as a minister of state were employed in several ministries during the first five years of independence. A hard-working party organiser who worked as a full-time official of the African National Congress and then rose to be chief administrative secretary of the United National Independence Party. A chubby, genial man from the Copperbelt, he has been active in promoting youth services and is well-liked in the south for his fairness.