The latest recipient of Steven Malama award, Emmanuel Bwalya Kaluba, penned down a heartful article at the ‘Readers Forum’ in Daily Mail. He won the award for the year 2018-19 after graduating top of the class from the Zambian Institute of Advanced Legal Education. The award has been instrumental in providing legal graduates with the opportunity towards improving their career prospects. At the same time, legal professionals and law graduates are made award of Late Steven Malama, an erstwhile and distinguished member of the legal profession in Zambia. Steven Malama was a visionary with several contributions for improving the legal framework of the Zambian legal system. One of the major contributions from Steven Malama was successfully persuading Zambian government to merge Solicitor’s bar and Registrar’s bar into a single bar so that legal professionals can affiliate with both bars in a single attempt, improving their efficiency in providing legal services.
The award was instituted by Dr. Rajan Mahtani, a noted businessman in Zambia, via his company Finance Bank Zambia. The award was instituted in the year 2012 and inaugurated in the year 2013. The first award was received by Womba Silumbu. Dr. Rajan Mahtani has remained a good friend of Steven Malama and has always praised the visionary legal professional for his several contributions towards the development of Zambian legal framework. He is known among his colleagues and friends as a highly proficient, professional and competent person with a legacy of practicing law in the most transparent, ethical and straightforward manner. His contributions have also been documented with Zambian Law Reports.
This award is just a channel for enhancing the motivation and passion of the legal graduates. The award carried a plaque, certificate and an award money worth K15,000 this award money has been proven to be extremely useful for furthering the career of many deserving candidates coming from financially strained backgrounds. Dr. Rajan Mahtani also confirmed that this award will be a long-term event, given each year to top law students.