Lee Mwiti
Mail Guardian - 24 Oct 2014
Zambia on October 24 celebrates its 50th birthday as an independent nation, and to better appreciate the
country’s journey, Mail & Guardian Africa dropped in on His
Excellency Dr Kenneth Kaunda, its first president. Excerpts.
Mail & Guardian Africa: You have seen Africa though 50 years
of post independence, longer than any of your peers—any founding father who was
leading his nation at independence. What would you say is the secret to your
long and rich life?
Kenneth Kaunda: When you look at the creation of wealth, God
taught us to love God your creator, with all your heart, all your soul, all
your mind, all your strength. He also
taught us to love thy neighbour, as thou lovest thyself. Do unto others, as you
would have them do unto you.
These commandments are in my
view what God made to guide us, and where these commandments are followed,
there is genuine peace.
MGA: You were part of a golden generation of
African independence leaders that quickened the end of colonisation in Africa,
in the spirit of that song you like, Tiyendi
Pamodzi (forward together). With the benefit of hindsight, would you have
done anything differently during the struggle for independence?
KK: I cannot
see how anyone could fail to identify the meaning of building a nation anywhere,
any part of the world, because we need to move forward in one way, and think of
certain things in our nations, especially in the meaning of development. Development
can be in many forms and in various fields of human endeavour, its not just in
one area. Your question becomes important even more when we realise man’s
future is dependent on a number of things that he is required to do; if man
doesn’t do these things in a necessary way, then what is there, it will all collapse, it will become
nothing.
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