Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Dr. Kenneth David Kaunda was a leading figure in the independence movement of Zambia (formerly the British colony of Northern Rhodesia), and from 1964 the country's first president. He remained in office into 1991, operating a single-party system headed by the nationalist United National Independence Party (UNIP). In 1991 he was defeated in open elections by the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD). The youngest of eight children, Kaunda was born in Lubwa, Northern Rhodesia on April 28, 1924. His father was a Malawian pastor who established the Lubwa Mission in Chinsali Province in the north for the Church of Scotland. In 1943 Kaunda completed his formal education, including two years of post-secondary training in Lusaka, and returned to Lubwa as a teacher, becoming headmaster at the Lubwa Mission. In 1945 he left Lubwa and joined the British army, but was relieved of duty. In 1948 Kaunda sought work in Northern Rhodesia's copper mining industry, and became a teacher and boarding director at a school for mineworkers in Mufulira, on the border of the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). He became active in public life. He joined many groups in the region as a choirmaster at the Church of Central Africa and briefly served with the local Nchanga colonial government. Kaunda was increasingly drawn into African nationalism, and in 1951 he became an official in ... log in or subscribe to read full text