Humanism In Zambia

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The major figure in Zambian politics from 1964 to 1991 was Kenneth Kaunda, who led the fight for independence and successfully bridged the rivalries among the country 's various regions and ethnic groups. Kaunda tried to base government on his philosophy of "humanism", which condemned human exploitation and stressed cooperation among people, but not at the expense of the individual.

Kaunda 's political party, the United National Independence Party (UNIP), was founded in 1959 and was in power under Kaunda 's leadership from 1964 to 1991. Before 1972, Zambia was under a multi-party political dispensation with three significant political parties. These were: the United National Independence Party (UNIP), the African National Congress (ANC) and …show more content…

Phiri (2006) argues that as Zambia African National Congress (ZANC) was formed in 1958, the decision to name the new party ‘Zambia African National Congress’ was taken deliberately to replace the ANC. ZANC’s primary objective was to become the only nationalist party by completely destroying the ANC. Up until the legislation of the ‘One Party Participatory Democracy’ in 1972, UNIP enjoyed political dominance but this dominance had been on the decline. It was this decline that greatly influenced the UNIP government’s decision to move away from plural political system to a one party system with political power being concentrated in the hands of the executive and the president (Phiri …show more content…

It is safe to deduce that it had its origin in the colonial era. This is so in that throughout the independence negotiations and struggle, African nationalists portrayed the picture that they were united and stood for the oneness of the will of the people. Phiri (2006) points out that the Colonial Office insisted on some form of unity among the Africans for it to relinquish power. Kenneth Kaunda once alluded to this myth when he said, while addressing the National Assembly, that “In accordance with our African way of life we intend that the President should be no mere figure-head but that he will have strong executive powers”. By appealing to African traditions, Kaunda was trying to invoke the masses’ fanatical faith in the leader and therefore sought to neutralize every form of political opposition to his

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