A true hero has fallen, as Zambia’s founding president Kenneth David Kaunda has died. He was 97. Kaunda was hospitalised early this week at a military hospital in Lusaka suffering from pneumonia.
Kenneth Kaunda served as the first President of Zambia from 1964 when the country got independence from Britain until 1991.
Born April 28 1924 at a mission station near the border between what was then Northern Rhodesia and the Congo, Kaunda was the youngest of eight children and after his father died while he was still a child, leaving the family impoverished, he managed to get a place in the first secondary school to be formed in Northern Rhodesia, and he later became a teacher.
During his term as the first president, the economy was booming and at the time of independence in October 1964 Zambia was one of the richest countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
However by 1991 it had debts of $8bn and during his rule there were a number of attempts to topple him and overthrow his government were reported. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed over the country and in 1990 there were food riots in the capital, Lusaka.
Eventually elections were called on 31 October 1991 and he was defeated ending his term as the president.
During the years he became a prolific writer and quite a number of books were published; Zambia shall be free 1962, Letter to my children 1973, The riddle of violence 1981 and many more.
Kaunda became the first African leader to publicly admit that one of his sons, Masuzyo, had died of an Aids-related disease and thus turned his attention to the fight against HIV and Aids.
Kenneth Kaunda was a force to be reckoned with, a pioneer of a new Africa and he was one of the few surviving liberation heroes in the region.
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