The year was 1990. In the same year my immediate young brother, Paul Kamba Junior was just born. Headlines of every newspaper in the country flashed with the news about a political movement which had just imaged after assembling an increasingly impressive group of important Zambians, including prominent ruling United National Independent Party (UNIP) defectors and labour leaders. Change was on the verge of happening. Everything was happening rather fast, even the then ruling party hardly managed to keep track and control of events as they uncovered.
In no time, the movement was transformed into a political party. The move was inevitable, any delay in applying the steadfast steps would have been detrimental to all the master minders. So the name of the party was immediately pronounced and Fredrick Chiluba was appointed as party President.
According to the country's history, before 1972, Zambia had three significant political parties, but only UNIP had a national wide following and in December 1972, the Zambian law established a one-party state law which was later enshrined in the 1973 constitution leading to a ban on the existence of other political parties apart from UNIP. Kenneth Kaunda as a sole candidate of UNIP, he was elected President in the 1973 elections. Elections were again held for the National Assembly and only UNIP members were permitted to run. However, President Kaunda's mandate was renewed in December 1978, October 1983, and October 1988 in a "yes" or "no" vote on his candidacy.
By the late eighties, the population of Zambia was fade up of the ruling UNIP government because of its poor performance in terms of it social and economic responsibilities to the country. Subsequently, this inability to meet the demands of the citizens and the growing opposition to UNIP's monopoly on power led to the rise in 1990 of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and by October 31, 1991 Zambia's first multi-party elections for parliament and the presidency were held. MMD candidate Frederick Chiluba resoundingly carried the presidential election over Kenneth Kaunda with 81% of the vote. To add to the MMD landslide, in the parliamentary elections, the MMD won 125 of the 150 elected seats, leaving only 25 seats for UNIP.
TO BE CONTINUED..........................
In no time, the movement was transformed into a political party. The move was inevitable, any delay in applying the steadfast steps would have been detrimental to all the master minders. So the name of the party was immediately pronounced and Fredrick Chiluba was appointed as party President.
According to the country's history, before 1972, Zambia had three significant political parties, but only UNIP had a national wide following and in December 1972, the Zambian law established a one-party state law which was later enshrined in the 1973 constitution leading to a ban on the existence of other political parties apart from UNIP. Kenneth Kaunda as a sole candidate of UNIP, he was elected President in the 1973 elections. Elections were again held for the National Assembly and only UNIP members were permitted to run. However, President Kaunda's mandate was renewed in December 1978, October 1983, and October 1988 in a "yes" or "no" vote on his candidacy.
By the late eighties, the population of Zambia was fade up of the ruling UNIP government because of its poor performance in terms of it social and economic responsibilities to the country. Subsequently, this inability to meet the demands of the citizens and the growing opposition to UNIP's monopoly on power led to the rise in 1990 of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and by October 31, 1991 Zambia's first multi-party elections for parliament and the presidency were held. MMD candidate Frederick Chiluba resoundingly carried the presidential election over Kenneth Kaunda with 81% of the vote. To add to the MMD landslide, in the parliamentary elections, the MMD won 125 of the 150 elected seats, leaving only 25 seats for UNIP.
TO BE CONTINUED..........................
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