Zambia: The Life and Times of Former President Frederick Chiluba
By Eunice Kilonzo
Lusaka---Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba, the second President of Zambia from November 1991 to January 2002, died aged 68 after a heart attack on Saturday 18 June 2011 at his home in Lusaka. He had been suffering from heart and kidney problems. His spokesman, Emmanuel Mwamba stated that Chiluba had a normal day on June 17, and even had time to meet some of his lawyers. He later complained of stomach ache and died shortly after midnight.
"It is with a deep sense of loss that we regret to announce that the second president of the Republic of Zambia Dr Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba died a few minutes after midnight," said Mr Mwamba.
Following his demise the Zambia Cabinet announced a week of mourning and that the former president would be given a state funeral.
"President Banda of the Republic of Zambia has declared Monday June 20 to June 27 a period of national mourning for the late president Frederick Chiluba, he will be buried on the 27 in Lusaka" said Joshua Kanganja, the secretary to the cabinet.
Chiluba was born to Jacob Titus Chiluba Nkonde and Diana Kaimba in the city of Kitwe, the copper belt region which was of central importance to Zambia's economy. Chiluba did his secondary school of education at Kawambwa Secondary School in Kawambwa, where he was expelled in the second year for political activities. After his expulsion, he worked as a personnel clerk on a Tanzanian sisal plantation, a bus driver, a city councilor and an accounts assistant at Atlas Copco, before becoming a trade union leader. He became prominent as chairman of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) when, in 1981, with several other leaders, he was detained by Kaunda for calling a wildcat strike that paralyzed most of the economy. In prison, Chiluba became a born-again Christian and peppered his speeches with biblical references.
Chiluba, a trade union leader, won the country's multi-party presidential election in 1991 as the candidate of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), defeating long-time President Kenneth Kaunda. Chiluba began his tenure by allowing greater political freedoms and liberalizing sectors of the economy, and received accolades at home and abroad for his efforts. Slight in stature and famous for his sharp suits, the born-again Christian entered office as a reformer, seeming to represent a new generation of African leaders. During his first term as president, he earned a master's degree in political science from Britain's Warwick University.
He was re-elected in 1996. In 1997 however after a failed coup he declared a State of emergency. Subsequently, he detained Kaunda, whom he accused of being behind the plot, under house arrest. Chiluba's antipathy toward Zambia's founding father stemmed from being imprisoned without charges in 1981 for allegedly organizing strikes to weaken the government As he was unable to run for a third term in 2001, former Vice President Levy Mwanawasa instead ran as the MMD candidate and succeeded him.
However, his administration became increasingly bogged down by allegations of corruption and maladministration. His decade in office was notable for high-profile corruption scandals, marriages to two of Zambia's most prominent politicians, and a noticeable taste for high-heeled shoes. He was 5ft tall. He was also the target of personal criticism for his lavish lifestyle, including his wardrobe of handmade monogrammed shoes and suits. After leaving office, Chiluba was the subject of a long investigation and trial regarding alleged corruption; he was eventually acquitted in 2009.
After his departure from the presidency, another serious falling out at the top of Zambian politics occurred, and Chiluba was indicted on 100 charges of corruption by siphoning public money into private bank accounts in London. He had by then divorced his wife of 33 years, Vera, a politician, as was his new, third wife, Regina. She, too, was charged with corruption. Chiluba was barred from leaving the country after his two co-defendants fled abroad. In early 2006, Chiluba was however flown to South Africa for medical attention for a heart condition. After resisting the government's call for him to return to Zambia for what they termed as long-term treatment, he returned on July 15. His trial dragged on for six years until after Mwanawasa's death in 2008, when the presidency passed to Chiluba's close friend Rupiah Banda.
Immediately after his corruption case in Zambia ended in 2009 and able to travel again, he made his first trip outside the country to return to the controversial Synagogue, Church of All Nations (SCOAN) in Lagos, Nigeria, almost a decade after his first visit when president. After sitting through a 10-hour service, which included the deliverance and rehabilitation of several armed robbers, as well as a thanksgiving service for the recently concluded FIFA U-17 World Cup, Chiluba was full of praises to God for the church's leader, Prophet TB Joshua, and its Emmanuel television channel, which he said he watched daily with his wife.
The former trade unionist, Chiluba led the copper-rich country for just over a decade after defeating liberation hero Kenneth Kaunda in multi-party elections in 1991. Thus he is hailed as a democrat for helping dismantle Kaunda's socialist single-party rule of 27 years. Chiluba can be said to have left both an economic and a political legacy. Economically he started the process of ending Zambia's socialist command economy. He presided over various economic reforms. There are mixed feelings in Zambia on the effectiveness of the economic transformation initiated by the Chiluba government. He helped broker a peace agreement to end the war in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo as he was the head of the Organization of African Unity.
Chiluba was a virtual prisoner in his final years, confined to his residence after authorities confiscated his passport to prevent him from evading justice. In many ways, Chiluba was an enigma. He is survived by his second wife Regina, ex-wife Vera Tembo and his 11 children.