African nationalist and first President of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda, is dead. It would be recalled that he was the country’s founding father and ruled for 27 years from 1964 after it gained independence from Britain.
Kaunda’s death comes days after reports that he was admitted to Maina Soko military hospital in the capital Lusaka, where he was treated for pneumonia.
One of the first generation of post-independence African leaders, Kenneth Kaunda led his vulnerable and landlocked nation through a perilous era in southern Africa.
Reports have it that it was his most outstanding achievement that during his 27 years in power he maintained domestic stability in a comparatively benign manner while providing bases for the movements struggling against his far more powerful white neighbours in Rhodesia and South Africa.
In a swift reaction to Kaunda, the African Union in a statement by its Chairperson, Moussa Mahamat, described him as one of Africa’s finest sons.
The statement read, “It is with an indescribable sense of loss that the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat learnt of the passing of H. E. Kenneth Kaunda, the first president of the Republic of Zambia and one of the Founding Fathers of the Organisation of African Unity.
“Africa has lost one of its finest sons. He embodied the true sense of Pan-Africanism, placing his own country Zambia at grave risk in order to provide safe harbour for the liberation movements of Southern Africa as well as its peoples.
“His championing of the Frontline States to defeat Apartheid and white minority rule in Southern Africa laid the foundation for what we call regional integration today.
“The African Union stands in solidarity with the Kaunda family, the people and the Government of the Republic of Zambia as we mourn and honour the life of a freedom fighter, statesman, visionary and liberation struggle icon.”
