Politics
& Economics On gaining independence from Britain
in 1964, Zambia became a one-party state under President Kenneth
Kaunda. In 1991 multi-party elections were held for the first
time and today Zambia is a functioning democracy.
At
independence, Zambia had one of the highest per capita incomes
in sub-Saharan Africa. It had large deposits of minerals, plenty
of agricultural land, and wonderful game reserves. Zambia was
encouraged to concentrate on exporting copper and it became one
of Africa’s most industrialised and urbanised countries.
The wealth from copper paid for extensive education and health
programmes.
Following
the oil crisis in the 1970s the price of copper collapsed and
the price of oil rose. Zambia was forced to turn to the IMF and
World Bank for assistance. So began some thirty years of Bank
and Fund intervention in the Zambian economy, a period of increasing
debt, economic collapse and social crisis.
During
this time Zambia’s debts rose from US$800 million to almost
US$6,000 million.
Since
1991, in order to qualify for debt relief, Zambia has been forced
to implement such economic policies as privatisation, trade liberalisation,
subsidy cuts and public sector wage freezes. And yet, in the same
period, Zambia has had the worse economic performance of any African
country that has not suffered from conflict. Its economy declined
by 1.7 percent a year in the 1990s. And yet, by 2003, Zambia had
received only 5 per cent of the debt service reduction committed
to it.
For
poor people in rural areas the consequence of this has been a
steady decline in access to such basic rights as sufficient food,
clean water, health services or education: 50% of the population
are undernourished; 20% of children do not live to see their 5th
birthday; and life expectancy has fallen to 33 years.
