Levy Patrick Mwanawasa died last week. He was president of Zambia from January 2002 until his death. Zambia was known as Northern Rhodesia until it achieved independence from Great Britain in 1964. Kenneth Kaunda was president from 1964 until 1991, presiding over a long period of decline in the country’s economy under his one-party socialist policies. When multi-party elections were finally allowed in 1991, Kaunda was replaced by Frederick Chiluba, who proceeded to divert vast sums of public money for his personal use.
Mwanawasa, who became the third president of Zambia in 2002, was a former lawyer who was respected for his integrity. He began attending Twin Palm Baptist Church in Lusaka in 2003, and shortly thereafter his mother died in injuries caused by a fire, one of his brothers died unexpectedly from an illness and another brother was murdered. Mwanawasa became a Christian and was baptised at Twin Palm in 2005.
Although Mwanawasa’s economic record has won him acclaim from Western donors, around 68% of Zambians still live below the international poverty line. The average income of US$395 is around half of what it was when the country became independent in 1964. Life expectancy is only 40 years, and the country has struggled to cope with the social and financial costs of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.