Frederick Chiluba

Frederick Chiluba, born in 1943, president of Zambia (1991-2002). Chiluba was born in the Copperbelt region of northern Zambia and southern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, formerly Zaire) to Bemba-speaking miners. Too poor to finish school, he traveled to Tanganyika (modern-day Tanzania) and worked on a plantation. When he returned in 1966 Chiluba became involved in the labor movement. While working as a credit officer in an engineering firm, he was elected president of the Building and General Workers’ Union in 1971 and president of the Zambian Congress of Trade Unions in 1975.

An outspoken critic of Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda, Chiluba cofounded in 1990 the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), a coalition of opposition forces. All opposition parties were illegal at the time, and Chiluba was briefly detained for his role in the MMD. After mounting popular unrest convinced the government to register opposition parties, multiparty presidential elections were held in 1991, and Chiluba defeated Kaunda by a wide margin. One of Chiluba’s first official acts as president was to lift Kaunda’s permanent state of emergency.

After taking office Chiluba faced numerous struggles, including accusations of corruption within his cabinet, popular resistance to the privatization of the state-run economy, the fragmentation of the MMD, and criticism of his handling of ethnic tensions. In addition, Kaunda’s party, the United National Independence Party (UNIP), regained popularity. In March 1993 Chiluba declared a state of emergency when he discovered what was called the “Zero Option” conspiracy, which was engineered by UNIP radicals to instigate public discontent and render the country ungovernable. However, Chiluba revoked the state of emergency in May after protests from Western nations that provided funds to Zambia.

In May 1996 Chiluba’s government passed an amendment to the constitution designed to hamper the political comeback of Kaunda. The amendment limited presidents to two terms in office and required all presidential candidates to be from families who had been in Zambia for at least two generations. Kaunda, born of Malawian immigrants, was disqualified on both accounts. Kaunda’s UNIP boycotted the 1996 elections, and Chiluba was elected to a second term.