Zambia; Political History

     

The Kaunda Regime
Up untill 1964, Zambia was under colonial rule by the British. On 14th October 1964, Zambia became independent of the British and became a sovereign Nation.

Kenneth Kaunda took center stage in the freedom fight and naturally he went on to become it's first president.

Under Kaunda the country was led under one-party state and the UNIP the only party allowed to operate.

At the time of Independence more than 96% of the population where uneducated. One of president Kaunda's regacy is his pro education stance. During his rule, he made substantial policies in favor of the education and general literacy of the citizens.

It's during the Kaunda era that the University of Zambia ( the country's highest learning institution) was established, the Copperbelt University (second biggest), Evelyn Hone college, National Institute of Public Administration (Nipa), Northern Technical College (Nortec) aswell as other Trades and Teacher's training institutions across the country.

Kaunda managed to take state ownership of most companies and mineral rights from the control of foreign ownership. He did this through concessions and Nationalisation.

During his rule, the country experienced an economic crisis. During early 1973 the price of copper reduced by half, this had devastating effects as copper accounted for 95% of all export earnings. By 1976, Zambia had a balance of payments debt crisis with the IMF, this surged on and by mid 1980's, Zambia had one of the highest debts of any Nation relative to it's GDP.

The Chiluba Regime
President Frederick Chiluba has the legacy of beating president Kaunda in a landslide taking 75% of the votes in an election. He ended the one party rule and ushered the country into Multi Party Democracy in 1991.

During his rule, Chiluba made some economic reforms and he spearheaded the privatisation of some parastatal companies. He also declared the country as a Christian Nation, to that effect a clause was put into the Constitution. 

The Mwanawasa Regime
During Chiluba's successor, Mwanawasa, Zambia saw high levels of foreign investment, the overall economic growth increased by 6% per year, the country received a substantial share of foreign aid and the inflow of tourists into the country increased. The now late president Mwanawasa is always remembered for his fight against corruption.

The Banda and Sata Regimes

Presidents Banda and Sata had similar ideologies. Their focus was mainly to repair Zambia's bilateral and multilateral relations with other countries. During his campaign, Sata had an anti China stance but as president he let up on this and tried to repair the relations, but unfortunately he died in office and couldn't achieve this goal.

The Lungu Regime

Under Edgar Lungu Sata's successor and current president, Zambia-China relations are fully restored. The ties between the two nation's are stronger than ever. Under the Lungu administration, Zambia has seen an increase in the number of capital projects initiated, some are finished and others are underway and Chinese companies are undertaking the construction of most of these projects. There has been massive construction of capital infrastructure from roads to bridges to hospitals to schools and universities. It's also during the Lungu administration that the Kwacha has depreciated to it's all time low and higher inflation rates.

Over  the 6 administrations from Independence to date, there has been    a fairly stable political climate and  Zambia is developing and it is considered one of the fastest growing economies in Africa and the world.