Portal:Zambia/Selected biography/1

Kenneth David Kaunda, (born April 28, 1924) was the first President of Zambia, serving from October 24, 1964 to November 2, 1991. Kaunda was the youngest child of the Reverend David Kaunda, an ordained Church of Scotland missionary and teacher. He originally trained as a teacher but gave up teaching 1951 to become the Organising Secretary of the Northern Rhodesian African National Congress for Northern Province, and in 1953 he became the Secretary General of the party. However, after differences with the party president, Harry Nkumbula, Kaunda left to form the Zambian African National Congress (ZANC) in 1958 but was imprisoned in 1959 after the new party was banned. While Kaunda was in prison, several nationalists broke away from the ANC and formed United National Independence Party as a successor to ZANC. When Kaunda was released from prison in January 1960 he was elected President of UNIP. In July 1961 Kaunda organized a civil disobedience campaign in Northern Province, which consisted of burning schools and blocking roads. Kaunda ran as a UNIP candidate during the 1962 elections, which resulted in a UNIP–ANC Coalition Government, with Kaunda as Minister of Local Government and Social Welfare. UNIP won the 1964 general election under the new Constitution and Kaunda was appointed Prime Minister. On 24 October 1964 he became the first President of independent Zambia. (continued...)