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KAUNDA ENERGIZES LAST DAYS OF CAMPAIGN.
Updated: 23 December 2001 by By Hugh McCullum and Kondwani Chirambo in LUSAKA Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia's founding president, has suddenly energized the country's election campaign with his unexpected nation-wide intervention which some of the contestants fear might tip the scales in a very tight contest. He has cast a long shadow over Zambia, the country he led to independence in 1964 and then ruled as president for 27 years until his defeat in 1991 by the present ruling party the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) led by, out-going President Frederick Chiluba. Kaunda suddenly reappeared near the end of the tripartite election campaign set for 27 December, taking to the campaign trail with a vengeance and energy belying his 77 years. Always a man to defy popular trends and wisdom, the former president is making headlines and causing a storm among many of the 11 presidential candidates and political parties seeking to lead this country out of its economic and political mire. Kaunda has publicly endorsed three opposition presidential candidates as worthy to lead the country: Nevers Mumba, an evangelical televangelist and pastor, leader of the National Citizens Coalition(NCC); Anderson Mazoka, the businessman who heads the United Party for National Development(UPND) and, of course, his son Tilyenji Kaunda, head of the United National Independence Party (UNIP). Kaunda senior says these three should combine to create a coalition or government of national unity to stop the corruption, revamp the electoral management system and return power to the people. Nominally Kaunda still supports UNIP and its leader, but he has added this unusual twist that is leaving pundits and politicians, especially those seen as front-runners in an election still too close to call, wondering how the 2.6 million registered voters will respond. Kaunda makes no apologies for his radio attacks on the MMD, its split-away party the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) and some other opposition parties. The government owned media, tightly controlled by the ruling party, have been attacking Kaunda incessantly for his partisan position, shifting their attention from their traditional opposition-bashing. Yesterday, wearing black jeans and shirt, he made several brief addresses at markets in Kabwe in Central Zambia and was mobbed by people curious about his decision to charge into the campaign less than a week before it ends. He says it is his concern for the suffering that Zambians have endured for a decade, the high prices of food, especially the staple mealie meal which should be available at an affordable price for all, the impact of school fees and medical care and the high cost of living in country where 80 percent of the 11 million people live in poverty. The market goers shouted their approval of his message about their hardships as he spoke from the sunroof of a land cruiser. Traffic was gridlocked because of the large crowds. Just how all that would be done, KK does not spell out but it is clear he sees his three candidates as honest and competent leaders. Of the three, only Mazoka has been ranked by analysts among the top four presidential hopefuls. Later in Kitwe, on a stopover on the way to a major campaign speech in Solwezi today, Kaunda said he was campaigning for UNIP, for his son and for Zambia and that he was deeply concerned at the leadership of the other parties especially MMD and FDD. Although Kaunda has kept a low political profile in recent years, many observers say Zambians, who have seen their economy slide into deep poverty since 1991, regard their founding president with great affection and respect, despite an almost systematic dismantling of UNIP's institutions by the MMD. UNIP's headquarters in downtown Lusaka Freedom House is a far cry from Kaunda's heyday. Its gloomy corridors, leaking ceilings, broken chairs leave visitors with a feeling of decay, brightened only at times by huge paintings of the country's only former president hanging askew on the walls or propped up in corners of rooms. At a press briefing in a cheerless room, smelling of dampness and neglect, Dr. Kamoyo Mwale who holds the post of national chairman of UNIP's national command explained the former ruling party's strategy and why its former leader who once loomed large in regional and national politics has taken to the hustings once again. It is part history, part nostalgia, part praise for Kaunda's 27 years as president and part appeal to Zambia's longing for economic stability and progress since multi-party politics were reintroduced in 1990. "Our principles have not changed. Ninety-five percent of Zambians oppose MMD, all opposition parties are following our plans. People could eat, we had dignity, we were not a geo-political joke. Our currency was 80-90 kwacha to the U.S. dollar, now it is 4,000, our life expectancy was about 56 years in 1991. Now its 30 years.We are a disaster nation," Mwale said. He argued that MMD moved far too fast on a neo-liberal agenda, dismantling parastatals under pressure from overseas donors, creating massive unemployment and where has all the money gone, he asked? Trained Zambian managers from the former parastatals have been replaced, Mwale said, by foreigners. "We had good health and education, now our cemeteries are full and there is no space as people die in their thousands. Although we have an AIDS pandemic, it is really poverty and malnutrition that is killing them." Mwale and several party faithful surrounding him were especially embittered at the treatment Kaunda received at the hands of his successor, especially around the question of his citizenship and the decision made under pressure to boycott the 1996 elections. "That boycott, which we did, as we do everything, on priniciple, cost us a lot but we knew the election was rigged, just as we know of the blank registration cards and ghost voters that will come out this time." Mwale predicted that fewer than a million voters would cast ballots next Wednesday due to rigging, heavy rains and the festive season. "Can you imagine winning the presidency like that?" Mwale asks. But, why is Kaunda, in the dying days of the campaign, electioneering for UNIP, for his son and for his other two favoured candidates? "He wants to people to know the truth. He wants the people to know that of the 11 parties running, several are simply ideologically the same as MMD - you know MMD one, MMD two, MMD three -- the same corrupt people who still meet at night. Now they are afraid that KK may open the peoples' eyes because the voters are saying multi-party Kaunda has set up a heavy pace for himself in the next three days with major rallies in the elections have done little good for them, in fact they are worse off." Copperbelt and an address to the nation on 26 December at Matero, the oldest township in Zambia on the edge of Lusaka, an area famed for its historical political declarations and manifestoes. Most people doubt that Kaunda can pull off a victory for his son, but UNIP has 148 parliamentary candidates who could make their voices heard in what is expected to be a hung National Assembly. The candidates he has endorsed have not rejected Kaunda's support and indeed, have issued statements agreeing with his proposals. Most observers believe Kaunda would not have supported them without their prior knowledge. Analysts say Kaunda's support is strategically targeted at Mazoka who is already tipped as a possible victor but is probably the most likely candidate to forge a working relationship with UNIP in a post-election government. Whatever the outcome of this intervention by the founder of Zambia, this last week of the campaign has been enlivened by his presence. (SARDC) This article can be reproduced with credit to SARDC and the author Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC) |
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