Kenneth Kaunda

Kenneth David Kaunda (born April 28, 1924 – June 17, 2021), commonly known as KK, served as the first President of Zambia from 1964 to 1991.

Kenneth Kaunda in 1983

Quotes

• The inability of those in power to still the voices of their own consciences is a great force leading to change.
  • "Kenneth Kaunda: Zambia's First President's Memorable Quotes". MSN.com. 17 June 2021. 

• People see him as a hero. Not just in Zimbabwe or here in Zambia but across the whole of southern Africa. It's no good demonising Robert Mugabe.
  • "Mugabe's hold on Africans". BBC News. 25 August 2007. 

Zambia Shall Be Free (1962)

• I would ask which was more important, to prepare someone meals and beds or to share them? Was it not common sense that the person who prepare your meals and made your bed and looked after you was controlling your life? How stupid it was for everyone to say you may control my life but I will not sit at the same table with you because you are stinking or because you are black
  • Page 41.

• African are people not cattle to be herded together and driven here and there.
  • Page 59.

• When people understand a cause, become prepared to suffer for that cause and see glory and honour in such suffering, it is indeed just impossible to suppress them or the cause they stand for.
  • Page 68.

• If the Government cannot without demoralizing so badly it's own people, then that government is no good and it must give way to people who can.
  • Page 115

• Some of these Salisbury prisoners used to say plainly that they were better off where they were than outside. They would argue they could never hope to find work, they could be harassed by the Police for passes, tax receipts and many other things. A society that drives some of its citizens to think that way is rotten and needs burying.
  • Page 134.

• Nothing can be achieved anywhere and in any field without good Organization.
  • Page 152.

• The Whiteman lords it over us in all walks of life not because he happens to be white but because he is better organized than we are, that is his secret.
  • Page 152.

• If you drive an animal into a corner and torment it, you may expect that in it's fear and rage it will slash back at you.
  • Page 160.

• For a long time, I have led my people in the shouts of KWACHA (the dawn). We have been shouting it in the darkness, now there is the Grey light of dawn on the horizon and I know that Zambia Shall be Free!
  • Page 160.

Quotes about Kaunda

• As we welcome Zambia to this community and extend our congratulations to the people of Zambia, we wish to express our personal admiration to you, Mr. President, for the vital role you played during the recent years of preparation for this joyous occasion. We especially admire your success in achieving mutual cooperation and understanding among the different racial elements in Zambia. We sincerely hope that this achievement will be taken as a lesson and example by the entire world. Our interest in your example is greatly heightened by our own efforts to eliminate racial discrimination in the United States.
  • Lyndon B. Johnson; Message to President Kaunda on the Occasion of the Independence of Zambia Online, The American Presidency Project; 26 October 1964