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February 2004

Zambia’s ex-president stresses need for economic change in Africa

Dr. Mauricio Gonzalez, from left, Dr. Henry Thomas and Oupa Seane, front, pose with Dr. Kenneth David Kaunda, the former president of Zambia, after Kaunda’s talk at UNF.

By AMY PARMELEE
Staff Writer

Dr. Kenneth David Kaunda, the former president of Zambia, shared his thoughts on Africa and its challenges at UNF recently as part of a visit to Jacksonville.

Kaunda, who led Zambia to independence from Britain and served as its first president from 1964 to 1991, is now the first Balfour African President in Residence at Boston University’s African Presidential Archives and Research Center.

His visit to Jacksonville was on the invitation of Harry Goodall, a friend to Kaunda and a nephew of Trustee Luther Coggin. Goodall said he raises money for Kaunda’s Children of Africa Foundation, which aims to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in Africa and wants to open a Jacksonville office for its U.S. efforts.

In his speech before about 30 people at the University Center, Kaunda stressed the importance of economic change in Africa to lessen poverty and curb the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The life expectancy in Zambia is only about 35 years, and the majority of the population lives in poverty, according to the CIA World Fact Book. A 2001 estimate had 1.2 million people in Zambia living with HIV or AIDS.

Kaunda, however, did not talk about the numbers of Africans living in poverty or with HIV/AIDS. He talked about economics and democracy.

“The continent is in transition for the better,” he said, adding that large problems, such as land mines and the effects from war, still remain.

But, he said, many African countries are working together to improve security. Democracy also is spreading, and economic reforms have accompanied changes in government.

“The continent is open for business,” he stressed after describing a continent filled with untapped resources, including a population of 750 million.

Crises, he said, often have overshadowed opportunities to invest in Africa. “Africa is more than the sum total of its problems,” he said.

Kaunda is taking on two of those problems personally and is using economics to wage his battle.

In answer to a question about the high cost of drugs to fight HIV/AIDS, Kaunda said the availability of drugs alone would not solve Africa’s problem.

“To fight AIDS, the first thing you must remember, is that we need to eradicate poverty,” he said.

And to eradicate poverty, it is all about economics.

Kaunda’s visit was sponsored by the President’s Office, the Intercultural Center for PEACE, the International Center, and the Office of the Vice President for Student and International Affairs.