Kenneth Kaunda

Kenneth Kaunda
Kenneth Kaunda
	Kaunda in 1983
1st President of Zambia
	In office; 24 October 1964 – 2 November 1991
Vice President	Reuben Kamanga; Simon Kapwepwe; Mainza Chona;
Preceded by	Evelyn Hone as Governor of Northern Rhodesia
Succeeded by	Frederick Chiluba
3rd Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement
	In office; 8 September 1970 – 5 September 1973
Preceded by	Gamal Abdel Nasser
Succeeded by	Houari Boumédiène
Personal details
Born	Kenneth David Buchizya Kaunda; 28 April 1924; Chinsali, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia)
Died	17 June 2021 (aged 97); Lusaka, Zambia
Resting place	Embassy Park, Lusaka
Citizenship	British subject (until 1964); Zambia (1964–1999, 2001‍–‍2021); Stateless (1999–2001);
Political party	UNIP
Spouse	Betty Banda (m. 1946; died 2012)
Children	8, including Tilyenji
Profession	Teacher

Kenneth Kaunda (28 April 1924 – 17 June 2021), also known as KK, was a Zambian politician who served as the first president of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. He was at the forefront of the struggle for independence from British rule. Dissatisfied with Harry Nkumbula's leadership of the Northern Rhodesian African National Congress, he broke away and founded the Zambian African National Congress, later becoming the head of the socialist United National Independence Party (UNIP).

Kaunda was the first president of independent Zambia. In 1973, following tribal and inter-party violence, all political parties except UNIP were banned through an amendment of the constitution after the signing of the Choma Declaration. At the same time, Kaunda oversaw the acquisition of majority stakes in key foreign-owned companies. The 1973 oil crisis and a slump in export revenues put Zambia in a state of economic crisis. International pressure forced Kaunda to change the rules that had kept him in power. Multi-party elections took place in 1991, in which Frederick Chiluba, the leader of the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy, ousted Kaunda.

He was briefly stripped of Zambian citizenship in 1999, but the decision was overturned the following year.

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