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General Information
Kaunda remained in office for 27 years. Although
during his early years great strides were made in
the areas of education, healthcare and infrastruc-
ture, his attempts to ‘decolonize’ the economy
through nationalization of industries and opera-
tions, produced only inefficiency, corruption and a
subsequent disastrous economic decline. Kaun-
da’s one party participatory democracy; which
gave UNIP sole power, soon deteriorated into an
autocracy maintained by only by the practices of
a police state.
In 1990 a clearly failing economy, twinned with
political frustrations, led to serious food riots and
an attempted military coup d’etat that had the sup-
port of many. Opposition to the regime became so
deep and widespread, along with the urgency of
the demand for change that Kaunda had to con-
cede some of his power and offer multi-party elec-
tions.
Kaunda remained in office for 27 years. Although
during his early years great strides were made in the
areas of education, healthcare and infrastructure, his
attempts to ‘decolonize’ the economy through na-
tionalization of industries and operations, produced
only inefficiency, corruption and a subsequent dis-
astrous economic decline. Kaunda’s one party par-
ticipatory democracy; which gave UNIP sole power,
soon deteriorated into an autocracy maintained by
only by the practices of a police state.
The Federation was dissolved in 1963. In Janu-
ary the following year universal suffrage was in-
troduced to Zambia, and produced an election in
which, although the ANC performed well in a few
substantial areas, UNIP decisively won, making
Kenneth Kaunda Prime Minister. On 24th October
1964, Zambia became an independent state led
by Kenneth Kaunda as the Republic’s first Presi-
dent.
Independence
Kenneth David Kaunda, affectionately known as KK
served as the first President of Zambia, from 1964 to
1991.
continent were coming to an end. The Premier of
the White dominated Federation, Roy Welensky,
threatened to declare unilateral independence from
Britain, but in the end baulked on his threat. When
Zambian trade unions, including influential miners,
threw their weight behind UNIP, the nationalist sen-
timent and its momentum became an unstoppable
force throughout Northern Rhodesia. Intense and
often violent rivalry between Kaunda’s UNIP and
Nkumbula’s ANC was eventually neutralised by way
of a transitional coalition government.
In 1990 a clearly failing economy, twinned with politi-
cal frustrations, led to serious food riots and an at-
tempted military coup d’etat that had the support of
many. Opposition to the regime became so deep and
widespread, along with the urgency of the demand
for change that Kaunda had to concede some of his
power and offer multi-party elections.
Democracy
The one-party state was soon abolished and gave
way to free elections held in October 1991. The
newly formed Movement for Multi-party Democracy
(MMD), a broad coalition of different interest groups
handily defeated Kaunda and UNIP receiving an
overwhelming 80% of the vote.
A trade unionist by the name of Frederick Chiluba,
who had been locked up by Kaunda, rose to promi-
nence within the MMD to become Zambia’s second
President. He promised democratic, transparent,
and accountable governance, but inherited an empty
treasury, a foreign debt of over seven billion US dol-
lars, a country essentially in much worse state than it
had been prior to independence in 1964.
Upon assuming the Presidency, Chiluba embarked
on an economic reform programme. The programme
abolished foreign exchange controls, passed new
investment laws, helped set up a stock exchange,
and embarked on a privatization programme dubbed
the best on the continent by the World Bank. All this
led to Zambia becoming an attractive destination for
donor aid and private sector investment. The surge
in investor confidence in Zambia attracted a growing
number of investors.
However, in the 1990’s there was a cooling of re-
lations among donors and investors amid negative