Zambia Political Overview

Zambia Political Overview

Introduction

Zambia, a country that has experienced five successful multiparty elections since 1991, is a peaceful, democratic country with enormous economic potential grounded in its rich endowment of natural resources. The country has altogether held 10 elections since its independence in 1964. Kenneth Kaunda, was the country's first president and ruled for 27 years. In 1973, Zambia became a one party state after all the political parties were outlawed. Zambia's copper dependent economy deteriorated after the fall of copper prices in the eighties. The nationalization of the copper mines and generally poor economic management turned Zambia into one of the poorest countries in Africa.Zambia was originally inhabited by hunter-gatherer Khoisan people. About 2000 years ago Bantu people migrated from the Congo basin and gradually displaced them. From the 14th century more immigrants came from the Congo, and by the 16th century various dispersed groups consolidated into powerful tribes or nations, with specific territories and dynastic rulers. In this paper we discussed the Zambia Political conditions.

History

Zambia was first colonized by the British South African Company in 1889, although it was not until 1924, when the company ceded administrative control to the British Crown (whereupon it became the colony of Northern Rhodesia), that serious exploitation of the country's main natural resource, copper, began. From 1953 to 1963, the country found itself forming the northern part of the Central African Federation, essentially a pale form of apartheid, which enjoyed no support whatsoever among the black population. The colonial authorities ceded independence in 1964. The pre-independence elections

were won by Kaunda's United National Independence Party. The country soon became involved in the war in Southern Rhodesia. Kaunda closed Zambia's southern border and gave safe haven to cadres from Joshua Nkomo's ZAPU party and its associated guerrilla army, ZIPRA.

Relations with the Zimbabweans have naturally improved since that country became independent in 1980 and Kaunda's foreign policy focused elsewhere. Kaunda subsequently became a major regional statesman. He played a major part in the initiatives leading to independence in Namibia and South Africa and, in the 1990s, chaired both the Organization of African Unity and the 'front-line' group of Southern African states confronting the South African apartheid regime. He was also involved in the political settlement in Angola.

Kaunda's forays abroad tended to lead to neglect of Zambia's domestic agenda. Zambia was a one-party state from 1973 until 1991. During 1990, domestic unrest sparked off by price rises developed into demands for a more democratic system of government. Kaunda promised a national referendum on the issue but postponed it after further disturbances in July 1990. The principal opposition to the disintegrating UNIP was the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD), led by Frederick Chiluba, chair of the Zambian Council of Trades Unions, the focus of much opposition activity under the one-party state. The election took place on 1 October 1991 and gave Chiluba a substantial majority.

The new administration adopted the standard set of IMF-approved, market-oriented reforms (subsidy cuts, trade liberalization, privatization) and resumed debt ...