Frederick Chiluba Research Articles

Pastor Nevers Mumba’s Quest to Actualize the Declaration of Zambia as a Christian Nation through “Zambia Shall Be Saved” Campaign, 1993–2021

Abstract This article is grounded in the findings from qualitative and interpretivist research based on secondary and primary data. Two analytic frameworks have been used to make sense of the data. The first is Stephen Ellis and Gerrie ter Haar’s hypothesis that politics in sub-Saharan African societies cannot be fully understood without reference to religious ideas therein; and the second is the notion of African Political Theology which, according to Emmanuel Katongole, means going beyond addressing realities of violence, civil unrest, poverty, tribalism, and corruption, but deploying the story of salvation in Jesus as a concrete social, material, political, and economic reality in the African social imaginary for the construction of modern Africa. The article argues that through “Zambia Shall be Saved” orations from 1993 to date, Pastor Nevers Mumba has been calling for actualizing the declaration of Zambia as a Christian Nation (henceforth referred to as “Declaration”) made by President Frederick Chiluba in 1991. Katongole’s understanding of African Political Theology provides an invaluable lens for conceptualizing Mumba’s “Zambia Shall be Saved” discourse. The Declaration remains a topical issue among Zambian and international analysts and the significance of this particular article lies in the fact that it relates Mumba’s cry of “Zambia Shall be Saved” to the new conversation on “Actualizing the Declaration” coined by the government of the republic of Zambia in 2016. Overall, the article seeks to contribute to an ongoing discourse on Zambia’s Christian nationhood.

Image Transformation of Frederick Chiluba, Ex-President of Zambia (Attitude to Former Presidents in African Countries)

The article analyzes the transformation of the political image of Frederick Chiluba, President of the Republic of Zambia in 1991-2001. As a representative of a new formation of African leaders in the era of the continent’s transition from authoritarianism to political pluralism, he was an ambiguous figure. His role in the return of the multi-party system in the country and in the liberalization of the national economy is discussed. It is stressed that within the framework of the existing political culture this politician was not immune to inevitable mistakes. However, the style and methods of Chilubas leadership (persecution of his predecessor, manipulation using the ethnic factor in order to retain power, ignoring criticism of the opposition and allies) periodically led to tension in the internal situation in the country and negatively affected his political image and the image of the government in general.In 1990-2000s the negative impact of tensions between Zambian politicians who held the presidency at different times on the stability of the country was clearly manifested. The persecution of ex-President Chiluba charged with corruption demonstrated the authorities’ policy to combat this social evil, but it was ambiguously perceived and interpreted by the society and by analysts. It is noted that for all the mistakes and shortcomings of Chilubas ten-year rule, it is necessary to recognize his merits in creating the economic base of Zambia and in proclaiming it a Christian country, which was practically forgotten after his death.The article shows the gradual rehabilitation of Chilubas memory, in which all living ex-presidents and the current Head of State take part. The experience of Zambia shows that under African realities, former presidents enjoy honors and certain privileges, provided they do not participate actively in politics and do not enter into open conflicts with their successors.

Religious factor in the political process in Zambia: mutual influence of religion and politics

The article examines the problem of growing politicization in some religious confessions, primarily Christianity, in the process of democratization that began in Zambia in the early 1990s. Zambia is one of the African countries whose religious leaders have played a prominent role in social life throughout their history. It is especially noted that the proclamation of Zambia a Christian nation in 1991 by President Frederick Chiluba contributed greatly to the strengthening of mutual influence between politics and religion. In modern Zambia religious organizations adhere generally to neutrality, the liberal part of all confessional groups seeing their task in solving primary social problems. In recent decades there have been no pronounced ethnic and religious contradictions in the country which could contribute to an emergence of open bloody conflicts threatening internal security and stability. The article shows that with Edgar Lungu’s (Patriotic Front, PF) coming to power in 2015, Zambia was proclaimed a Christian nation again, which was enshrined in the new edition of its Constitution. The campaigns for presidential elections in 2015 and for general elec-tions in 2016 have shown that “religion-politics” discourse has become relevant in the political process, regarding primarily multiple rela-tionships between religion, ethnicity and politics. The country is on the eve of new general elections due in August 2021. In a difficult economic situation, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemics, Zambian government and Church officials are calling on voters to ensure peaceful electoral process.

Surviving on Borrowed Power: Rethinking the Role of Civil Society in Zambia’s Third-Term Debate

Countries in Africa that feature a strong civil society are often assumed to have the best prospects for democratic consolidation. Zambia is often held up as an example of the democratic gains that can result from a robust non-state sector capable of checking the power of the government. Indeed, the literature is characterised by a remarkable consensus on the capacity of trade unions and religious organisations to force presidents to compromise, whether under authoritarian or democratic rule. The most significant recent victory is typically said to be the creation of the Oasis Forum, a coalition of civic associations formed to defend term limits against the attempts of the former president Frederick Chiluba to secure an unconstitutional third term in 2001. Drawing on previously unavailable and under-utilised newspaper, archival and oral primary sources, this article argues that the role played by the Oasis Forum was necessary but not sufficient. The erosion of Zambian civil society at that conjuncture made it weak and incapable of shifting Chiluba’s position; other forces were therefore required to do the job. Members of parliament from Chiluba’s own party and elements of the military emerged to fill this void and deal a decisive blow to his plans. More broadly, I argue that the capacity and the willingness of the unions and the churches to defend democracy have been overstated. The fragmentation of religious organisations has undermined the significance of the churches, while the twin processes of privatisation and the informalisation of the labour force have reduced the power of trade unions. Paradoxically, the transition to multi-party politics has gone hand in hand with the weakening rather than strengthening of non-state actors, as it has in many parts of the continent, demonstrating the limits of civil society.

The Structural Adjustment of Football in Zambia: Politics, Decline and Dispersal, 1991–1994

This paper explores multiple and complex relationships between football (soccer), politics, and the economy in postcolonial Zambia. Based on archival and oral sources collected in Zambia, the paper argues that President Frederick Chiluba’s government failed to support football development when it came into power in 1991 because it was elected on a platform of liberalizing the collapsing national economy. Chiluba privatized state-owned companies that were sponsoring the game resulting in the plummeting of the local standards and migration of talented footballers abroad in search of better livelihoods. Furthermore, the paper argues that while the exodus of talented footballers led to the deterioration of the standards of the local league, their transnational experience boosted the performance of the Zambia national football team. This led to the emergence of one of the best national teams the country has ever had. Unfortunately, this particular team perished in the Gabon air disaster in 1993 following the government’s disinvestment in the game. However, a few months after the disaster, the country managed to rebuild a national football team, which emerged as runners up to Nigeria in the 1994 African Cup of Nations final as a result of a large pool of local and foreign-based football players.

Evolution of anti-corruption journalism in Africa: lessons from Zambia

All African countries, where there are functioning states, express a strong desire to curb corruption. The African Union has a convention to prevent and combat corruption. Zambia, under President Levy Mwanawasa, has positioned itself as a leader in Africa's fight against corruption. Last year, former Zambian President Frederick Chiluba was found guilty of grand corruption by a London court in a case brought against him by the Zambian government. There is general agreement that the media plays a significant role in the war against plunder of national resources by African leaders. However, studies that examine exactly how the media influences the decisions and actions of public actors in Africa's anti-corruption agenda are few. This paper aims to fill this gap. The goal is to use the Zambian case to gain a clearer understanding of the evolution of anti-graft journalism in Africa and to derive enduring insights into the relationship between the anti-corruption actions of the state and anti-corruption reporting by the press. Three key questions provide a framework for this investigation: 1) Is the press driving the Zambian government's anti-corruption campaign? 2) Is President Mwanawasa's 'zero-tolerance' campaign self-generated and the press simply following and reporting news events coming out of the bold steps already determined by the government? 3) Is it possible that the press and the state have found common ground and formed an informal but formidable alliance to combat graft?

Commonwealth Update

Nigerian security forces put down an Islamist uprising by militants of Boko Haram that left 700 people dead. The leader of the Pakistan Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a US missile strike and Islamist militants were pushed out of the Swat valley after weeks of fighting. Zambia's former president Frederick Chiluba was acquitted of embezzlement. The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative opposed Rwanda's application for Commonwealth membership. Tonga suffered one of its worst disasters in recent history when a ferry sank, killing 74 people.

The plundering of Zambian resources by Frederick Chiluba and his friends: A case study of the interaction between national politics and the international drive towards good governance

This article analyses the accusations that have emerged since 2001 of predatory behaviour during the presidency of Frederick T. Chiluba (1991-2001). It advocates a detailed analysis of the practices that have come to light in order to move beyond a generalized interpretation of the persistence of predatory elites in Africa. Three specific themes appear. First, there is a danger of oversimplification of these conflicts as between the international community and national governments. The political struggles tend to be more complicated than generally presented, and international involvement meshes with local political struggles. Second, predatory behaviour or corruption is a social process that is embedded in wider national and international networks. It is therefore difficult to locate culpability exactly in clearly designated protagonists. Third, there is a danger of imputing an economic and political rationality to this behaviour which may best be designated as theft. The overall theme of the article is that there are important national cultural influences in the way these predatory practices are dealt with. These are obfuscated by a blander critique identifying partial reform that leaves predatory elites untouched.

The intersection between politics and corruption in Zambia

Corruption in Zambia became entrenched during the decade‐long rule of President Frederick Chiluba and as a result, corruption and politics have become intertwined in the country's political fabric. The article looks at the extent of the problem.

STRENGTHENING PRESIDENTIAL ACCOUNTABILITY:

The people of Zambia will know that whenever [former President, Frederick Chiluba] appears in public wearing a smart handmade suit or a pair of his ‘signature’ shoes that they were acquired by stealing money from the people the vast majority of whom live at subsistence levels. 2 1 [2007] EWHC 952 (Ch) (the Chiluba case). 2 Peter Smith J in the Chiluba case, para 467. Love of money is a root cause of presidential evil.

‘The Hour Has Come at the Pit’: The Mineworkers' Union of Zambia and the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy, 1982–1991

The study of civil society's role in pro-democracy movements in sub-Saharan Africa has generally neglected the underlying motivations informing mass participation in such movements. The role of Zambia's mineworkers and their union in the 1990–91 Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) is an important example of such participation. Frederick Chiluba's accession to the MMD leadership and to the Zambian presidency rested on his leadership of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), which was in the vanguard of opposition to the ruling United National Independence Party (UNIP) from the late 1970s. Chiluba's authority, however, was based on the resonance of his critique of UNIP with urban workers, in particular its implementation of structural adjustment policies. Mineworkers' willingness to challenge UNIP's practical authority in the economically strategic copper mines was rooted in the failure of the postcolonial political settlement to adequately meet their expectations for social and economic change. Their resultant discontents led some to participate in ZCTU-organised underground political opposition in the late 1980s, which provided Chiluba with an unrivalled support base in the MMD. Mineworkers resisted the co-option of their union into UNIP structures, utilising rank-and-file organisation to challenge and to remove leaders perceived as close to the ruling party. The consciousness that informed this participation – a distrust of leadership, a reliance on workplace and community-based self-mobilisation, and a belief in their right to adequate recompense for their harsh and nationally important labour – was, in mineworkers' support for the MMD, abandoned in favour of a belief that a political party led by a trade unionist would address their expectations. The experience of Zambia's mineworkers provides instructive parallels with the dilemmas facing unions engaged in political alliances in southern Africa and beyond.

The Fate of Africa's Democratic Experiments: Elites and Institutions

Contents Preface 1. Elites, Institutions, and the Varied Trajectories of Africa's Third Wave Democracies Peter VonDoepp and Leonardo A. Villalon 2. Repetitive Breakdowns and a Decade of Experimentation: Institutional Choices and Unstable Democracy in Niger Leonardo A. Villalon and Abdourahmane Idrissa 3. The Tribulations of a Successful Transition: Institutional Dynamics and Elite Rivalry in Mali Leonardo A. Villalon and Abdourahmane Idrissa 4. Democratic Legitimacy in Benin: Institutions and Identity in a Regional Context Bruce A. Magnusson 5. The Collapse of the Democratic Experiment in the Republic of Congo: A Thick Description John F. Clark 6. The Shaky Foundations, Adverse Circumstances, and Limited Achievements of Democratic Transition in the Central African Republic Andreas Mehler 7. The Fate of Madagascar's Democracy: Following the Rules while Eroding the Substance Richard R. Marcus 8. Institutions, Resources, and Elite Strategies: Making Sense of Malawi's Democratic Trajectory Peter VonDoepp 9. Democracy Unrealized: Zambia's Third Republic under Frederick Chiluba David J. Simon 10. Assessing Adaptation to Democratic Politics in Mozambique: The Case of Frelimo Carrie Manning 11. Democratization in a Divided Urban Political Culture: Guinea-Bissau Joshua B. Forrest 12. Democratic Governance in Africa at the Start of the Twenty-first Century: Lessons of Experience Michael Chege References List of Contributors Index

The Problem of Judicial Control in Africa's Neopatrimonial Democracies: Malawi and Zambia

In November 2001, a High Court justice in the southern African country of Malawi issued an injunction against the speaker of the National As sembly, restraining him from removing seven opposition politicians from Par liament. The injunction left intact a fragile balance in the Assembly, where the government and its allies had a majority of seats, but lacked the two-thirds needed to amend the Constitution. This issue was of great importance, given the government's desire to change the Constitution to allow President Bakili Muluzi to run for a third term. The significance of the judge's action came into relief nine months later, when the government lost by three votes a proposed constitutional amendment changing term limits on the executive. Less than a year after the injunction, as Muluzi supporters continued efforts to change the Constitution to remove term limits, elements of civil and political society mobi lized in a public campaign against the amendment. In response, Muluzi ordered a ban of all demonstrations regarding the third term. Yet hearing a petition months later, a High Court judge declared the ban unconstitutional, a move that both discredited the President and buoyed third term opponents. The recent history of neighboring Zambia offers parallels to events in Ma lawi. In early 2001, President Frederick Chiluba began a push to amend the constitution so that he, too, could stand for a third term. And here as well, the courts played a key role in defeating the effort. For example, as opposition to the third term was mounting, the High Court overturned police efforts to halt a rally during which several prominent ruling-party politicians publicly chal lenged Chiluba's program to amend the constitution. In addition, a High Court justice in April of 2001 forbad Chiluba and his allies from expelling from the party those members who opposed amending the constitution.

PRESIDENT FREDERICK J.T. CHILUBA OF ZAMBIA: THE CHRISTIAN NATION AND DEMOCRACY

AbstractThis paper focuses on the career of Frederick Chiluba from his election as President of Zambia in October 1991 to his renunciation of standing for a third term in April 2001. The paper argues first that, in his book on democracy and in his declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation, Chiluba set up the criteria by which his presidency would be judged and ultimately found wanting. Second, it argues that the Christian nation concept has had the inadvertent consequence of giving evangelicals a clear basis on which to judge Chiluba and the Zambian state, and hence has served as a catalyst for more energetic and extensive evangelical political engagement.

Mozambique: A Fading U.N. Success Story

As Mozambique enters its tenth year of peace following a brutal and destructive civil war, the signs of continued democratic transformation and pro-market economic reform appear rosy, at least at first glance. Donors and the international community have quietly lauded Joaquim Chissano’s recent announcement that he is “not disposed” to seek a third term as president of this former Portuguese colony of 17 million on the southeast coast of Africa. Together with President Frederick Chiluba’s similar announcement in Zambia a few months ago, it looks to many like an indication that these two African democracies are maturing and consolidating the gains that they have made in recent years. Mozambique’s continued place atop the list of the world’s fastestgrowing economies has been seen as another signal that commitment to the “Washington Consensus” will provide the funds required to bring infrastructure, schools, and health care to the rural majority. It is no wonder, then, that Mozambique finds itself highlighted as a success story for the United Nations in conflict-ridden Africa. Many credit Mozambique’s remarkable transformation to the UN’s efforts to sustain the drawn-out peace negotiations, demobilize more than 90,000 soldiers, rebuild a unified national army, and foster the rise of a legitimate, peaceful opposition. Donor investments continue to support Mozambique today, funding more than half of the government’s annual budget. On the ground in Mozambique, however, the continuation of this upward trajectory looks anything but guaranteed. The newspapers hint at trouble just beneath the surface: two major bank failures, the Jeremy M. Weinstein is a doctoral candidate in political economy and government at Harvard University and a graduate student fellow of the Center for International Development. This article is based in part on research he conducted in formerly Renamo-controlled areas in central and northern Mozambique.

CIVIL CONTROL OF THE ZAMBIAN MILITARY SINCE INDEPENDENCE

Democratic rule requires, amongst other things, orderly civil-military relations. Zambia's military, with some exceptions, have generally remained under firm civilian control, unlike many forces in the region. Initially the military was based on the British colonial model but during the struggle for independence the force was indigenised. Instead of representing a colonial power, the military came to represent a specific political viewpoint: one party participatory democracy. President Kaunda, the leader of UNIP, was chiefly responsible for the politicisation of the military and ensuring its loyalty to the ruling party. Quasi-military institutions such as the Combined Cadet Force and the Home Guard Unit were useful links between civilian and military personnel. When Frederick Chiluba, leader of the MMD, took over in 1991 he tried to make the military more professional and curb its power over civilian affairs. A defence council and parliamentary regulation were instituted to avoid further military coups.

The state of democratisation in Zambia

This article examines the progress of politics in Zambia following the demise of the single‐party state in 1991 and the adoption of new constitutions to uphold human rights and democratic government. While President Frederick Chiluba and his MMD party have introduced much‐needed political and constitutional reforms, at the same time authoritarian attitudes and misuse of power may still be detected among the government. Issues of continuing concern include the compilation of electoral registers and the treatment of opposition parties and other groups within civil society critical of government. The re‐introduction of multiparty politics has not automatically resulted in democratic governance.

Missionaries, Church Movements, and the Shifting Religious Significance of the State in Zambia

In Zambia, where church membership was estimated to embrace 75 percent of the country's ten million people, Christianity has been as central to the country's political evolution as it has been to its religious evolution. European mission churches, which provided bridges for co lonial expansion into the country in the late 1800s and early 1900s, also served frequently as training grounds and institutional launching pads for the African nationalist leaders that led the way toward indepen dence. Moreover, since Zambia gained its independence in 1964, Ken neth Kaunda, who was president until 1991, and Frederick Chiluba, who unseated Kaunda, have gone to greater lengths than most regimes in post-colonial Africa to insure political loyalty on the part of churches. Nevertheless, responses to the colonial and post-colonial state have been far from uniform among Zambian churches. While the historic, Protestant mission churches have been fairly reliable allies of the state, the Catholics (during the latter twentieth century)1 and a rapidly ex panding third wing of African Christianity referred to as African Initi ated Churches (AIC's), have proven to be a much more difficult political challenge. AIC's, typically characterized by creative blends of Christian supernaturalism and African traditionalism, have been products of two historical moments of missionary ferment and African political intentionality in Zambia (and across sub-Saharan Africa). An initial period of missionary ferment, lasting into the mid-1990s, was dominated largely by European mission churches, although, in Zambia, American-based Watchtower churches were an important factor as

Chiluba's Christian nation: Christianity as a factor in Zambian politics 1991–1996

This article examines the role of Christianity in the change of regime in Zambia in 1991, and after its new President, Frederick Chiluba, declared Zambia a ‘Christian Nation’ at Christmas 1991. Chiluba, a born‐again Christian, had the support of many of Zambia's churches in his campaign to oust the long‐serving incumbent. President Kenneth Kaunda, himself prone to use Christianity for political support. Particularly significant in Chiluba's campaign were the Christian media. The three branches of Zambian Christianity (the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Christian Council of Zambia, the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia) have traditionally worked in close cooperation. The Catholics and the Christian Council were not consulted about Chiluba's declaration of Zambia as ‘Christian’ and have tended to regard the proclamation as unfortunate, at best; elements within the Evangelical Fellowship have been very supportive of Chiluba and his regime, most obviously because they saw the new dispensation as one offering them a share of political power. Corruption and mismanagement have continued lo characterise Zambia's political system, which has caused the declaration lo be viewed with widespread cynicism.

Donor-driven Initiatives and Media Training in Africa

In 1992, the U.S. Agency for International Development, (AID), launched a $15-million program to consolidate democracy in Zambia. The aid program followed multiparty elections which ended the 28-year reign of Kenneth Kaunda and the United National Independence Party, (UNIP). For 17 of those 28 years, Zambia had operated a single-party state, with UNIP serving as the sole, legitimate party (Bratton, 1992). The defeat of Kaunda and UNIP at the 1991 general elections, and the victory of former trade union leader, Frederick Chiluba, and his Movement for Multiparty Democracy, (MMD), was seen by many as an opportunity to consolidate democratic pluralism in Zambia (Bratton, op.cit.). It was this vision of democratic pluralism that led the U.S. government, acting through its Agency for International Development, (AID), to embark on a bold initiative it termed the Democratic Governance Project (DGP). The central objective of this initiative was to render public decision making more accessible and effective.(USAID Project Paper, 1992).1 Five years after the launching of the project, AID is scaling it down, uncertain about the future of democracy in Zambia. Part of the pessimism stems from the performance of the Chiluba government and the Movement for Multiparty Democracy, (MMD), in the post single-party government era. Dogged by charges of corruption, economic mismanagement, and political intolerance throughout much of its first term, critics of the MMD government say that its record so far has been just as bad as that of the Kaunda regime it succeeded (Bratton and Liatto-Katundu, 1994). Others point to more systemic problems. According to Ihonvbere (1995), Zambia is caught in the contradiction of nurturing and consolidating plural democracy under very difficult socioeconomic conditions (Ihonvbere, 1995:23). The controversies over freedom of the press, and the failure to conduct free and fair elections at the end of Chiluba's first term in office, are perhaps the most significant emblems of this failure at consolidating democratic pluralism in Zambia. For example, Chiluba's entire first term was marked by several tussles with the press, particularly the private-enterprise press. Notwithstanding the shortcomings of the private-enterprise independent press, those supporting transition to democratic pluralism argue that the frequent tussle with the press over critical and sensational stories against members of the Chiluba government did not help with the image of progress toward democracy.2 As for constitutional reforms, the government's failure at compromise with the opposition over several issues, including proposals for an independent judiciary, the need for an independent electoral commission, the procedure for adopting the constitution, and plans to include a Bill of Rights in the main constitution, seriously undermined the legitimacy of the constitution.5 Worse still, the refusal to rescind a clause in the new constitution which forbade former president, Kenneth Kaunda, from contesting the elections as a presidential candidate because his parents were not of Zambian origin, seriously compromised the integrity of the democratic process . The subsequent boycott of the elections by Kaunda's UNIP, and the denunciation of the 1996 elections by several groups as unfair, and undemocratic, was one by-product of the failure at constitutional reforms. Significantly, two of the key components of the U.S. Agency for International Development's democratic assistance plan for Zambia dealt with freedom of the press and constitutional reforms. Is-ow that Zambia is under attack on both of these scores, it is not surprising that AID is scaling back its commitments to assist Zambia in achieving democratic consolidation. This paper examines AID's media assistance plan under the Democratic Governance Project initiative, with particular emphasis on three aspects: (a.) the attempt at policy reforms that were intended to protect freedom of the press and ensure the privatization of mass media institutions in Zambia; (b. …