Florence Mwewa, mother of newly installed Lusaka Mayor Chitambala Mwewa, has called on Lusaka residents to pray for and encourage her son as he begins leading the capital city. Florence said her son had taken on a huge responsibility and would need the support of residents to…

Florence Mwewa, mother of newly installed Lusaka Mayor Chitambala Mwewa, has called on Lusaka residents to pray for and encourage her son as he begins leading the capital city.

Florence said her son had taken on a huge responsibility and would need the support of residents to succeed.

Speaking shortly after Mwewa’s installation yesterday, she said she was confident that God would help her son overcome the challenges that came with the position.

Florence said the most important thing residents could do was to stand behind the Mayor and encourage him as he worked to improve the city.

“All we have to do is pray for him, encourage him because he needs that encouragement,” she said.

The Mayor’s mother also reflected on the Lusaka her late husband, Simon Mwewa, led as Mayor, saying the city was much cleaner at the time.

“I can assure you when my husband was a Mayor, this city was very clean. I don’t know where the people went wrong,” she said.

She said she was pleased that her son had taken up the challenge of restoring cleanliness in Lusaka.

“And I’m glad my son has taken up that battle to try, and I’m sure there’s nothing hard that God can’t do,” Florence said.

Meanwhile, during his investiture ceremony, Mayor Mwewa said taking over an office once occupied by his late father had been a surreal experience.

Mwewa said his late father served as Mayor of Lusaka and later as Governor, making his own journey into the same office particularly emotional.

He recalled that in 1979, the late Tom Bradley, who was then Mayor of Los Angeles in the United States, visited Zambia while his father was serving as Mayor of Lusaka.

According to Mwewa, Bradley gave his father four coasters bearing his name as a personal gift.

Mwewa said that after being elected Mayor and entering the Mayor’s office, he discovered that the same coasters were still there.

“Standing here in front of you is very surreal for me because, as many of you know, my late father served as Mayor of this amazing city. He also served as Governor,” he said.

“When I was first elected Mayor and I was ushered into the Mayor’s office, looking around the office, I noticed the same coasters that he had gifted my father were the same ones that he left in the Mayor’s office when my father was the Mayor,” Mwewa recalled.

Mwewa was yesterday sworn in and later installed as Lusaka Mayor during a colourful investiture ceremony held at Lusaka Civic Centre.

He takes over from immediate past Mayor Chilando Chitangala, with a stated aim of restoring sanity and cleanliness to the capital city.