News, Regional, Southern Africa

Zambia Ministry of Electricity goes to Peter Kapala as energy portfolio splits in two

29th October, 2026

President Hakainde Hichilema has sworn in Peter Kapala as Zambia’s Minister of Electricity and Makozo Chikote as Minister of Petroleum, splitting the former Ministry of Energy in two a week before the Zimbabwe-Zambia Energy Projects Summit opens in Livingstone, and giving the power sector a ministry of its own.

Zambia’s electricity sector has a ministry of its own after President Hakainde Hichilema swore in Peter Kapala as Minister of Electricity at State House in Lusaka on 28 October, with Makozo Chikote taking the new Ministry of Petroleum, following the National Assembly’s approval this week of a restructuring that splits the former Ministry of Energy and raises the number of ministries to 30.

Vice President Mutale Nalumango, who moved the motion in the National Assembly, told lawmakers that a separate electricity ministry was needed to find new ways to generate power and get it to customers, and that dedicated electricity and petroleum ministries would help the government respond to changing energy needs, according to local reports.

Kapala returns to the power portfolio he held until July 2024, when he was moved to Fisheries and Livestock as drought cut the country’s electricity supply, and Chikote, who has led the Ministry of Energy since then, now takes charge of fuel.

The new ministry takes on an installed generation capacity of 4,722MW, up from 3,777MW in 2024, according to Arnold Simwaba, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, along with a 2027 budget plan that targets 10,000MW and a Kariba allocation for power in 2027 that the Zambezi River Authority has cut to 23 billion cubic metres, shared equally with Zimbabwe.

Brenda Tambatamba becomes Minister of Mines and Minerals Development, succeeding Paul Kabuswe, after serving as Minister of Labour and Social Security since 2021 and, before entering politics, as sustainability manager at Barrick’s Lumwana copper mine, as Zambia pursues three million tonnes of copper a year by 2031, up from about 890,000 tonnes in 2025.

Images: Zambia Ministry of Electricity

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