Frederick Chiluba

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba (born April 30, 1943 in Kitwe ; † June 18, 2011 in Lusaka ) was the second President of Zambia from 1991 to 2002 .

Life

He grew up as the son of Jacob Titus Chiluba Nkonde and Diana Kaimba in Ndola , where he attended the Kawambwa Secondary School. He later completed his degree by distance learning and then studied economics in the USA and in what was then communist states, including the GDR . He worked as a secretary before becoming an accountant at Atlas Copco in Ndola, where he joined the National Union of Building, Engineering and General Workers (NUBEGW) and worked his way up to chair.

He won the presidency of Zambia's Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). Chiluba and several other ZCTU leaders were arrested in 1981 on the orders of then President Kenneth Kaunda after calling a strike that paralyzed most of the Zambian economy. They were released after judges ruled the arrests unconstitutional. In 1987 he was able to defend his chairmanship in the NUBEGW.

politics

In 1990 he was involved in the founding of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (for example: " Movement for Multiparty Democracy "), a party that successfully opposed the Kenneth Kaunda, who has been in office for 27 years, has been the moderate socialist autocrat. Chiluba took office on November 2nd of the same year and decided against his election promise to establish a " virtual democracy ". The elected Chiluba government arrested critical journalists and interned political opponents and used mysterious bomb attacks to declare a state of emergency. In 1996 she was able to secure a second term of office in spite of legal proceedings regarding the place of birth of Chiluba and thus also his eligibility. Chiluba denounced Kaunda as a Malawian and tried to have him deported. He added a provision to the Zambian Constitution that required both parents of a presidential candidate to be born Zambians in order to deprive Kaunda of the right to vote.

Some candidates in the 1996 election then questioned his eligibility, claiming that Chiluba or his father was born in Zaire . However, there is no doubt that he grew up in the Copperbelt of Zambia.

In late 2001, Chiluba and his wife Vera , with whom he had nine children, divorced. Despite the overwhelming majority of his party in parliament, he was unable to push through an amendment to the constitution that would have allowed him a third term. The presidency took over on January 2, 2002 the former Vice President Levy Mwanawasa . Although Chiluba began his rise as a socialist , under pressure from the IMF and the World Bank , his policies increasingly turned into a free market economy.

Political legacy

On a political level, Chiluba left a mixed legacy. Like his predecessor Kaunda, he reluctantly gave up power, but without provoking a violent conflict or a coup d'état. The existence of a press critical of the government distinguished Chiluba's Zambia from that of the Kaundas reign as well as from many other African countries. He helped broker a peace agreement in the war in neighboring Congo , but was unable to halt the escalating crime and poverty in Zambia. In the final year of his presidency, he was also chairman of the Organization for African Unity . After his replacement as president, he became the target of the anti-corruption campaign of his successor, Mwanawasa. In February 2003, he was accused of stealing $ 40 million in public funds during his tenure. On May 4, 2007, a British court found him guilty of this. In Zambia, too, Chiluba should answer for alleged corruption, regardless of health problems.

Honors

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Notice of death at bbc.co.uk from June 18, 2011 (English), accessed on December 20, 2015
  2. ↑ Bartholomäus Grill: A Realist with Trust in God . In: Die Zeit No. 46/1991 of November 8, 1991; accessed on October 24, 2019.
  3. ↑ Chiluba's legacy to Zambia , BBC News, May 4, 2007 (in English).
  4. ↑ Zambia's Chiluba guilty of graft , BBC News, May 4, 2007.
  5. ↑ Zambia's Chiluba 'to stand trial' , BBC News, May 31, 2007
  6. ^ Ndola City Council: Honorary Freeman . on www.cityofndola.gov.zm (English)
personal data
SURNAME Chiluba, Frederick
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Chiluba, Frederick Jacob Titus (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION second President of Zambia (1991-2002)
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Kitwe
DATE OF DEATH June 18, 2011
Place of death Lusaka