By Elias Munshya Wa Munshya
Zambia’s presidency and presidents have dominated much of post-colonial analysis of politics and history. This is very well understood, considering the power that the presidency wields and the central role that it plays in the political and economic life of the nation. As such, political leadership in Zambia has been discussed from the ambit of its presidents and the times they lived and ruled. As such we categorise Zambian political history in terms of the Kaunda Era, the Chiluba Era, the Mwanawasa Era or indeed the Banda Era. One of the areas of political analysis I think that we have neglected is to look at the republican vice-presidents, and appreciate the lessons they teach us about politics and leadership. This article therefore seeks to look at the vice-presidency, and indeed specifically the vice presidents that Zambia has had since 1964. The vice-presidents and the times they served provide for us perhaps the greatest insight into politics and the nature and character of the presidents they served. From looking at the people who served in that office, we can come up with general rules or principles that we can extrapolate to either predict future political trends or indeed get some lessons that can help move our nation forward.
Gender
The first element of analysis shall be the gender composition of the vice-presidents. It is indeed quite telling and revealing that none of the vice-presidents since independence is a woman. In terms of our country, it is not enough that we have had an all-male contingent of presidents, but to think that even their deputies were all-male does tell us a despicable story of our gender imbalance. We’ve only had names such as Reuben, Simon, Mainza, Alexander, Enoch, Augustine, Godfrey, Christon and George for Government House. In spite of the fact that women make up 51% of Zambia’s population and are still the biggest demographic of voters, it is quite unfair that Zambia has had no woman president, worse still that Zambia has had no woman vice-president. This gender imbalance in my opinion could explain why we are faced with all this economic and political turmoil—we have given women very little opportunity to rise to the top, or even to the second topmost. Women are not just good for dancing at the airport, but rather they are equal partners in development. Kaunda, Chiluba, Mwanawasa, and Banda have all shown us lamentably that they are all male chauvinists for failing to use their prerogative to give the vice-presidency to a woman! I think we must do better and if we are to be a truly balanced nation it may be time to give the womenfolk a chance. As such, the time may be ripe for names such as Inonge, Edith, Maureen, or even Judith to rule. If they cannot yet have a shot at State House, we can at least give them the opportunity to have the shot at Government House.
Political weaklings
The second element has got to do with modalities by which these vice-presidents are chosen. As a rule, it looks like most of the vice-presidents were never chosen from very politically popular candidates. They were mostly chosen from among the most politically unpopular cadres. It remains for another time to explore why this is so. Suffice here to mention, however, that the most unsuccessful vice-presidents have been those that garnered a lot of political support while in office or those that went to the position of vice-president with a huge political base. When Kaunda appointed Reuben Kamanga as vice-president in 1964, it was widely held that KK so chose Reuben for his lack of popularity and political base than for any other reason. This is the reason why, even today, Reuben is not considered a political hero of Zambia’s independence. Zambians can easily recall Kapwepwe than their first-ever Vice-president Reuben Kamanga. Kaunda could not have chosen a powerful candidate for vice-president.
In 1967, when the Bemba-Tonga alliance in UNIP beat the Nyanja-Lozi alliance at the first post-independence UNIP conference, Kaunda was left with no choice but to drop Kamanga as republican vice-president and appoint Kapwepwe instead. But Kapwepwe did not last very long in that position. He was too powerful and too politically popular to be a vice-president. He had to be forced to resign.
When Mwanawasa, a man of great influence within the MMD latter became the republican vice-president, he too like Kapwepwe, could not successfully discharge the duties of his office. He had to resign simply because the MMD government and President Chiluba could not handle a powerful and influential vice-president. Unfortunately, the same reasons why Mwanawasa resigned as Vice-President resurfaced when he was now in power. He appointed Nevers Mumba, a man who had no strong political base. Of course Mumba was going to be a good vice-president as long as he played it small and unpopular. But that was not to be for an American trained tele-evangelist. He became a little bit more larger than life. While in office, he developed a huge constituency, and rose in popularity. Perhaps as a mix of both chance and opportunity Nevers Mumba was beginning to eclipse his boss—a bad omen for a vice-president. Zambian presidents generally have a dislike for a very powerful vice-president. It was not very long after Nevers had addressed a press conference, while Mwanawasa was away, that he was fired from his position. A vice-president must be dismal!
It still remains to be studied why Mwanawasa, left all the popular cadres within his party and chose to cross party lines and appoint, Nevers Mumba, and repeat the same feat later by appointing Rupiah Banda for Veep. But Mwanawasa’s eccentrics did not end there; after he had fired Mumba he then went for Augustine Festus Lupando Mwape Katoloshi, to be his vice-president. Not only was Mwape lacking a political base, but he was also not even a member of cabinet. He had in fact been fired by Mwanawasa just a few months earlier, only to be reinstated as a junior minister responsible for Northern Province. Mwape’s political unpopularity was proved later by his failure to retain his parliamentary seat in the 2006 elections. It is unpopular candidates who seemed to make very good vice-presidents in Mwanawasa’s regime. But this does not just apply to Mwanawasa it is also true for Kaunda, Chiluba, and even Banda. The Banda affair is even more telling, when Mwape lost his parliamentary seat, Mwanawasa went to a farm in Chipata district and fished out a retired politician-turned-farmer, perhaps two decades his senior, to come and serve as vice-president. According to Mwanawasa’s calculation, good vice-presidents should be taken from the bush and not from the bloom of urban political life. For his part, when he started to rule, Banda did not look to popular candidates within the MMD for a vice-president. He instead looked to George Kunda, a political novice to become a vice-president. He had in choosing Kunda by-passed the more politically astute and popular cadres such as Mumba, Magande, Mpombo, and even Kalumba.
Constitutional roles
The third element concerns, constitutional roles that vice-presidents have fulfilled in the course of Zambian history. As least three vice-presidents were lawyers by profession. These are Chona, Mwanawasa and now Kunda. All of these three served at a time that the republican constitution was being reviewed. Of the three however, Mainza Chona has perhaps played the most visible role of all vice-presidents in pushing through dramatic changes to the constitution of the Republic. The famous Chona Commission was responsible for the implementation of the one party state. It is rather ironic that Kaunda appointed his Vice-President to be chairman of a constitution review commission instituted under the National Inquiries Act. It is still to be seen the constitutional contribution that the current vice-president will make to the current constitution under review. From all indications, it is clear that as Vice-President and Minister of Justice concurrently, George Kunda’s constitutional role is far from minimal. Learning from 1973, the current constitution is very likely to go Kunda’s way!
How Not to get fired
Fourthly, I should now comment on general observations about Zambia’s vice-presidents. They tell us quite a bit more about the characters of the bosses they served. The most unstable and unpredictable of all these bosses was Mwanawasa who had four vice-presidents in the seven years of office. That is to say he had a different vice-president every one and half years. Mwanawasa’s most intriguing moments with his vice-presidents concerns how he fired his first two, Kavindele and Mumba. Kavindele was let go at the same time that Mwanawasa was intensifying his fight against Chiluba’s corruption. It remains to be seen whether Kavindele was fired for anything to do with Chiluba. As for Mumba, he was fired for simply showing independence, ingenuity, and political astuteness. When Sata advised Mumba to relax and simply enjoy tea at Cabinet Office, Mumba vehemently refused and instead worked even harder for the good of the government. As a political novice Mumba needed to understand that a Veep should only jump as high the president says jump. You jump higher than you were told to; some close confidantes of the president will be there to report you. As such, Sata was quite prophetic; it was Mumba’s vice-presidential hard work that landed him into trouble. A vice-president should just be drinking tea and waiting for the president to say, “Help me here.” That is exactly what one Augustine did and he was dearly loved by Mwanawasa for it.
When making the choice of Vice-president, Presidents must take into consideration serious ethnic calculus. Kaunda lacked this calculus in the first few years after independence in his choice of both Kamanga and Kapwepwe. Kaunda’s tribe or ethnicity was not easy to categorize at independence. This worked both ways—positively and negatively. On the positive side, he was taken as a neutral arbiter between tribal tensions; on the negative side his choice of political friends would attract accusations of siding with one side of his heritage over the other. As such when he chose Kamanga as the first Veep, the Bemba-speaking section lamented that he had brought his Malawian brothers to top positions in the nation. However, when he reluctantly appointed Kapwepwe to the vice-presidency, after the 1967 UNIP conference similar accusations surfaced, two Bembas could not possibly hold two top positions in the country. He had to accept Kapwepwe’s resignation and appointed Mainza Chona, a Tonga, as his replacement. After Mainza Chona, Kaunda continued to emphasize his Bemba heritage and completely sidelined any other Bemba to any top position in the Second Republic. He then concentrated on having other tribes share the national cake. The position of Vice-president was abolished and the functions of the office were split between the Secretary General of the Party and the Prime Minister. The Secretary General functioned more like a first-vice president, while the Prime Minister was more like a second-vice president. The Prime Ministerial positions were the preserve of either a Lozi or Tonga speaking citizens. The position of Secretary General went to Mainza Chona at the inauguration of the Second Republic and Alexander Grey Zulu took over the position for much of the Second Republic. Grey Zulu was Kaunda’s deputy and a de-facto vice president and natural successor to Kaunda. Zulu was the best candidate for a de-facto number two since he lacked political clout to develop a political following of his own. It is men like Grey Zulu who make good vice-presidents and fortunate enough this rule has been proven true in the more democratic Third Republic.
Provinces of origin
Another matter of particular interest with the vice-presidents is their provinces of origin. Chinsali District has the honor of being home to two vice-presidents in the history of Zambia. Interestingly, of all 72 Districts in Zambia, Chinsali has produced more top two leaders per capita than any other district in Zambia. It is from Chinsali where both Kaunda and Kapwepwe hailed from. And in the Third Republic, Mwanawasa looked to Chinsali when he had the second shot at choosing a Veep. Of all the nine provinces, only Luapula and Lusaka Provinces are yet to produce a vice-president. Northern Province has had three, Kapwepwe, Mumba and Mwape. Central Province has had Mwanawasa, and George Kunda. If we consider Prime Ministers in the Second Republic to have been vice-presidents (in their own rights) then we could say that in Mundia, Lisulo, and Masheke Western Province has had its representatives. Mainza Chona and Musokotwane are among the most eminent representatives of Southern Province. Copperbelt produced Mwanawasa who had both Lamba and Lenje heritage. Northwestern Province’s Kavindele has served the country very well too. Eastern Province has had Kamanga, Banda, Tembo, Miyanda and Grey Zulu. There should be something about the people of the East that should explain why they have had more vice-presidents than any other province in Zambia. However, I leave that to others to explain why this is so.
Professions
In terms of professions, the vice-presidents have been very diverse. Both Miyanda and Christon Tembo were soldiers. Prime Minister Malimba Masheke was also a career soldier. It is said that Augustine Festus Lupando Mwape Katoloshi served in the Air Force as well. I have already mentioned that three vice-presidents where lawyers—Chona, Mwanawasa, and Kunda. Prime Minister Daniel Lisulo practiced law as well. One preacher, Nevers Mumba is among this rank. Kavindele leads the vice-presidents as the wealthiest of them all—his wealth surpasses the wealth that all of the vice-presidents have had combined.
No doubt that without their deputies, Zambian Presidents could not have discharged the functions of their offices effectively. Of all the presidents of Zambia, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa is the one who delegated the affairs of state to his vice-presidents the most. Vice-President Lupando Mwape is one who received the most of all these delegations. At one time when the estimates of the expenditure of his office were announced Mwape’s office had in one year spent more money than the office of president Mwanawasa. Cabinet office was quick to run to Mwape’s defence by explaining that they had not expected Mwanawasa to delegate so much state responsibilities to his vice-president.
Whats in it for them?
In terms of the law of retirement, the Zambian law only singles out Zambian presidents for a special retirement package which includes a 100% gratuity, an executive mansion, a string of luxury cars, security, a cadre of staff and seventy-five percent of the incumbent’s salary. As for the vice-presidents there is nothing special—no special gratuity and no executive mansions. This is unfair especially for people like Lupando Mwape who were de-facto Heads of State at a time when Mwanawasa was barely functional. As we honor the office of President, it may be time for Zambia to equally honor the men these presidents hired and fired to be their number two!
George Red Lips Hot Pan Kisser Kunda has been the most useless VP so far.
Why not for all civil servants.
As such, the time may be ripe for names such as Inonge, Edith, Maureen, or even Judith to rule. If they cannot yet have a shot at State House, we can at least give them the opportunity to have the shot at Government House.
When I read up to this paraghraph, I stopped ….the writer is a Muchooo. I am sure he doesnt mean Inonge Lewanika, or Edith Nawakwi or Maurine Kakubo or even Judith Mwale Kapijimpanga.Doesnt he know the past social history of these women?
George Kunda is a bootlicker. Wat this guy is saying is baseless n trying to discredit the Legacy of Levy that RB has inherited and scorned now
Was Nalumino Mundia not a Prime Minister?
This story only proves that absolute power corrupts absolutely.It just shows how everything centres around the president to the point of blurring the divide between his interests and those of the republic.It shows the many holes that the new constitution should plug.In a mature democracy no president could single handedly do away with the vice presidency as kaunda did without a serious backlash.Africa needs strong istitutions to keep overreaching hands at bay.
This is a well researched article. Keep it up sir
It is annoying to read this stupid writing,,, Give your fack beach,,, Iwe mbwa…!!!! you are reminding other provinces that they did not have a presidents or vice presidents which is giving pact problems, because other are saying we did not had president before, so it is our turn to have a president,, you think this is to deal with…!!!!
Grow up no. 8. This is a very well written article, I bet you cannot even write one paragraph on the history of Zambia. Learn a thing or two from this. No 7 good feedback, I agree. Keep it up Elias. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
how can this be a headline!? shyyyt ba LT mwalipena ba mambala imwe! eh?? this shud be in the writers columns somewhere! noti headline! bakward reporting at its best. some times i wonder why i even read this crapp when i can be doing sumfin constructive like chowing some buga somewhere. anyawy glad weekend is here, nomba tunwe bane! yaya. ni live fye. kuno kufyalo takwaba ama aids bane! good life! enjoy weekend bane. deuces:)>-
how can this be a headline!? shyyyt ba LT mwalipena ba mambala imwe! eh?? this shud be in the writers columns somewhere! noti headline! bakward reporting at its best. some times i wonder why i even read this crapp when i can be doing sumfin constructive like chowing some buga somewhere. anyawy glad weekend is here, nomba tunwe bane! yaya. ni live fye. kuno kufyalo takwaba ama aids bane! good life! enjoy weekend bane. deuces:)>- eh
When Sata advised Mumba to relax and simply enjoy tea at Cabinet Office, Mumba vehemently refused and instead worked even harder for the good of the government. As a political novice Mumba needed to understand that a Veep should only jump as high the president says jump. You jump higher than you were told to; some close confidantes of the president will be there to report you. As such, Sata was quite prophetic ( VIVA PF!!)
Mumbas was no doubt the most useless veep and its shocking that the writer could say: “was Mumba’s vice-presidential hard work that landed him into trouble”. Maybe “ni kusiyana siyana kwama office”, if a baseless accusation by a veep to the effect that a friendly nation is planning to invade Zambia can be classified as hard work then I beg to differ. To me Nevers was a spineless jackass who shopuld never have been appointed veep. For all the time he was at Cabinet office, ka Sekwila thought it was a christian crusade busy conducting healing sessions. The Ottawa mission has already been cited by the AG for serious misappropriation of funds, what a uselss SOB.
This article high lights on how unpeaceful Zambia is politically. Its time we introduced peacecraft to arrest the situation. Just look at the political trends since the colonial era
1. The constitution
2. The electoral probess
3. The presidency
4. Appointment me ministers
5. Reasons advanced for creating ministries
6. Low wages
7. Political inclusiveness
the above are indications of latent problems which need immediate attention before anything else. We as Zambians have wrong CULTURAL POLITICAL NORM which should erased in our mindset.
#3,If social history was the yardstick for presidency,Zambia would have had no president.Be gender sensitive my brother,evidence suggests thats men in general (at least in our set up) have a poorer ‘social history’ than women.It is sayings like ubuchende bwa mwaume tabutoba nganda which unfairly put a spotlight on women.The female names cited are in my opinion some of the brightest brains and can obviously leave a mark on our land
This was an absolutely poorly written article! Completely void of substance!!
I enjoyed reading this article and I appreciate the writer’s effort in putting this information together.the gender issue needs more debate though. Appointments should be on merit and not gender. My comments will be reserved for the present crop of female politicians as I dont know anything about them.
This is a well researched and well presented article. This article emphasises the facts why HH should NOT under any circumstances be tricked into accepting being Sata’s vice.
#18, you have a wrong impression about the pact. You need to understand that no one in PF tricked HH to form a pact with sata. It was his wish and the entire team of UPND party. You also need to understand that HH is free even tomorrow to leave the pact. No one has tricked him to remain in the pact.and so if the pact decides that HH be vice to sata, it will be up to him to say no and go his way. HH is a more educated than sata, so he understands these issues better than you. so your advise is baseless.
#19: HH does not need to leave the Pact because the only party talking about and holding the pact together is UPND. If any one wants to leave the Pact then it must be Sata and his PF. Have you ever heard Sata or his close lieutenants apart from Lubinda talk about what the Pact will do? It’s always PF this, PF that. Now just to clarify my point above: as long as there is a proper internal democratic system put in place to choose a leader for the pact personally I will have no qualms as to who the leader will be. What I don’t agree with is he insinuations coming from the likes of Scot and other PF cadres desperate to force the coronation of Sata as pact leader based on past glory. HH MUST not under any circumstance accept that.
rubbish
you are disgrace george, what about all the dos and donts you studied at the law school?
So our great leader Levy is the one to blame for RB! RB is actually Levy’s legacy!!! Well done Levy!
ONE OF THE BEST RESEARCHED ARTICLE.I HOPE IT CAN BE INCLUDED IN ONE OF THE SCHOOL SUPPLEMENTARY READER’S BOOKS.KEEP IT UP.THE TASTE OF IT ,IS WHEN ONE READS IT WHOLE AND WITHOUT ANY PREJUDICE.
a very good article ..right now we have the most useless vice preseident who is a total bootlicker..they veep should should be a run upto president..would make them function so well..
If being talkative is a sign of being hardworking then nervous mumba would be classified as hardworking. all he ever did was talk and go to alpha bar and alley-house. r.b. was veep before becoming president, makes me wonder. also last week magande said the late didn’t expect to last long yet kept on giving us terrible vice presidents.
I quiet enjoyed the read. Not so sure whether I learnt anything though.
Ok, as for gratuity and retirement benefits for VP, this should only be constitutional if he is also elected as VP, but not merely as an appointee. Otherwise, what would stop someone appointing a person at the last minute as VP just to let them have a retirement package!
So you can see how tribalist was manufactured by Kaunda. Bemba Tonga allinace for his benefit. How did the Tongas benefit apart from being horses. If Bemba Tonga alliance worked better for the benefit of the two tribes, why is it a big issue for Bembas to accet HH as PACT Presidency? This was fake alliance to benefit the Bembas and the PACT is a horse and ridder arrangement. WAKE UP BATONGA you are too sleepy.
why did the author fail to explain why Eastern has more VP than any province? The answer is simple if you read a book about white fathers ‘Aba patili bafika ku Lubemba’ It is clearly written if you appoint a bemba to be a captain the job will be done to your expectation but if you fail to honor the dues agreeded they will influence others to put the tools down till their dues are paid. Easterners they will cross their friends and report the ring leaders to the white man. ‘muzungu aninkhonde’ Look back at chachacha the struggle movement for independence where did it first from? The answer is Northern to copperbelt ,southern , northwestern, Luapula, Western, the last province was Eastern whether it was to do with Police training school or not it is the question that one has to answer.
#30 So you agree with the stereotype that all Bembas are thieves? What utter rubbish. You cant stereotype people simply based on where they come from. This is all the more true given the fact that there is more than one ethnic group in Eastern province. All the provinces of Zambia are artificially created. There is nothing sacrosanct about them. This is the kind of shallow thinking that gets us nowhere.
Richard Hall (first editor of The Times of Zambia and in 1964 a great admirer of Kaunda) wrote: “The mob demonstrated and forced its way into the High Court and ran up and down the corridors shouting for Skinner to present himself. The Chief Justice stayed locked in his office. That night, Skinner and his family slept away from their home for fear of being petrol-bombed. The country awaited a condemnation from State House but none emerged….. Kaunda retired into seclusion, shaken by the international reaction to these dramas and by suggestions that Vice-President Kapepwe had tacitly supported the High Court riot”. So these VPs may also have caused damage to the country in pursuit of their political ends.
On “As such, the time may be ripe for names such as Inonge, Edith, Maureen, or even Judith to rule.[..] If they cannot yet have a shot at State House, we can at least give them the opportunity to have the shot at Government House,” it is interesting that Dora Siliya hasn’t been mentioned in the category of those that can be considered as Vice-President of Zambia although I think she has the right qualifications.
On another note, it is interesting that this nicely done write-up has exposed the Bembas in a position where they have to reciprocate the favour Tonga men and women did for them in the time of Kapwepwe though this time Bembas in PF have to support Tonga HH for Zambian President in 2011.
Be blest all.
_
Matt 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His…
Can those bloggers with negative comments about this article also write articles we can read? That’s the problem with us Zambians. We are full of inferiority complex. If this article were written by any foreigner, it would have been widely accepted with very positive comments. Fellow Zambians, lets cherish our own works. KEEP IT UP, MUNSHYA.
I disagree with this writer on the following issues
1. Female Vice Presidents – There is still time for a female president, look at United States has not yet produced a female vice president.
2. During the Chiluba era, Mwanawasa was not popular that why he lost to Chiluba and frustrated with himself he resigned. If he was popular he should have atleast amassed about 40 to 49% votes during that convention against Chiluba.
3. Magade and Mpompo are not a factor in the ruling part, they are just vocal. Being vocal and popular are two different things. Atleast Katele Kalumba could be said he is popular in MMD