Kalthouma Nguembang

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Kalthouma Nguembang was a Chadian politician and an early member of the Chadian Progressive Party (PPT). She came from Chad in the early 20th century, belonged to the Sara people, and was related to Félix Malloum, who later became president. She led the PPT’s Women's Section, campaigned for women’s rights, and spoke up for the rights of the Sara people. She also criticized government policies she thought harmed farmers, such as mandatory cotton cultivation.

Nguembang was elected to Chad’s National Assembly in the early 1960s (1963) and traveled to the United States in 1964 as part of a delegation of Chad’s parliamentarians. By 1968 she was the only woman in the National Assembly.

In 1968 she was imprisoned, and she was released in 1969. Afterward she served again as the leader of the PPT’s Women’s Section until 1973. That year, President François Tombalbaye accused her of plotting against him and she was arrested along with others. The government said the plot involved hiring diviners to unleash supernatural powers. She was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment with hard labor and was reportedly tortured during her imprisonment.

After Tombalbaye was killed in the 1975 coup, Nguembang was released. She left Chad and moved to Nigeria, where she later died.

She was married to Tahir Abdeldjelil, who had ties to the sultanate of Wadai.

Scholars note that the important role of women in Chad’s early politics is often neglected, and Nguembang’s contributions are an example of this erasure.