Kaunda’s legacy laudable

At the advanced age of 97 years, Zambia’s founding President Kenneth Kaunda has passed away, bringing the curtain down on the generation of leaders that fought for Africa’s independence. He was an exemplary leader, whose peers included Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Ghana’s Kwame Nkurumah and Uganda’s Milton Obote.

He championed the independence struggle in southern Africa, giving support to the freedom movements in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa against white minority rule and apartheid. He was a true African statesman who was greatly admired for forgiving unity in Zambia and also for his contribution to the struggle for the continent’s emancipation.

However, Dr Kaunda would during his long life experience highs and lows. The highs included his role in the formation of the Organisation of African Unity, today’s African Union.

Conceded defeat

His lowest moment was the humiliation after his defeat in a multi-party election, at the height of the clamour for change in the early 1990s during a global economic crisis. But he graciously conceded defeat. He would later be stripped of his citizenship by his vindictive successor, Frederick Chiluba, citing his supposed Malawian ancestry. It got worse with the founding father of the nation getting jailed over suspicion of involvement in an alleged coup against his successor.

KK, as he was fondly known, regained his freedom, thanks to the intervention of other African leaders and the international community, but was put under house arrest. He would outlive his tormenter and witness several other presidential transitions in a country that he cherished. During this time, he dedicated himself to the campaign against HIV/Aids.

Unlike former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who died in disgrace, having transformed himself from a hero to a villain, Zambia and the entire continent are mourning the death of a great leader who triumphed over the politics of hate and vanity.