NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Notulu Nawa

2022102197

Assignment 1

BoPA1070 Government and Administration in Zambia

Mr Simon Mushoke

March 25, 2023

Question: Analyse the Evolution and Growth of Government and Administration in Zambia
Zambia has undergone significant changes since attaining independence in 1964 but between
1924 and 1964 Northern Rhodesia experienced the British system of colonial government headed
by a Governor and supported by a legislative council and an Executive council (Ngenda, 2016).
Under the independence constitution, Zambia’s presidency was modified by elements of the
British parliamentary system and certain concessions with regard to British property, citizenship
and the political position of local Europeans, Parliament comprised the President and the single-
chamber National Assembly, to which all Ministers had to belong (Tordoff, 1980). The short
lived First Republic (1964–1972) started off as a democratic system characterized by a dominant
party system in which the United National Independent Party (UNIP) was the major political
force (Erdmann & Simutanyi, 2003).The initial phase entailed the new government’s attempts to
establish political control and transform the inherited provincial and district government
structures into cohesive, dynamic organizations of local development management, which could
facilitate sustainable socio-economic development (Chikulo, 1981 ).

Some of the challenges the new administration faced was lack of experienced Zambians to take
over jobs left by the expatriates and in a bid to have many Zambians take up these position the
new government through the Zambianisation policy saw the rapid promotion of Zambians into
senior posts in the civil service and the Nationalisation of private institutions.This post-colonial
era saw a centralized system with the president having so much power. Tordoff (1980) from
1968 especially. President Kaunda used his constitutional powers to the full and took major
policy initiatives in both domestic and foreign policy without the prior concurrence of the
Cabinet or UNIP central committee; prime, early examples were the economic reforms of 1968
and the take-over by the State of a 51 per cent capital share of the mines in 1969. Some of
Kaunda’s administrative reforms of January 1969 may be interpreted not only as a response to
bureaucratic weakness, but also as an attempt to exert greater control over sectional conflict by
structural change. They created a new administrative structure by merging, at all levels, officers
of the provincial and district government division of the president's office and the Ministry of
Local Government. A Cabinet Minister and Permanent Secretary were posted to each province to
head the restyled provincial and local government. The district level of administration was
politicized by the creation of the post of District Governor as political head of the district.
Appointed personally by the President, a governor was responsible to the Provincial Minister as
the 'chief government coordinating officer in [his] district with reference to the task of political
and economic development. The justification of those changes was the desire to involve the grass
roots more closely in government by taking decision-making nearer to the locality, thus widening
the base of participation. It was also hoped to expand the local planning function by adding
development committees at village, ward and district levels to the local administration structure
introduced in 1965 (Gertzel & Szeftel,1984). The expansion that accompanied independence
began to falter in the late 'sixties. Economic growth disguised but did not overcome Zambia's
dependence upon copper and thus, when copper prices began to fluctuate in 1969, the country's
basic underdevelopment became apparent. The government's first restrictive budget, introduced
by Mr. Kapwepwe, as Minister of Finance, in 1969, made little impact on the public
understanding of the constraints of underdevelopment. By the early 'seventies, however,
increasing economic difficulties began to have direct repercussions upon urban society (ibid).
Not only did these repercussions have an impact on the urban society they also led to factions in
the ruling party based on tribal lines this led to the 1973 constitution amendment which ushered
in the second republic.

The 1973 constitution provided for a strong president and a unicameral National Assembly
consisting of 125 MPs elected from single member constituencies and up to ten members
nominated, the National policy was formulated by the Central Committee of the United National
Independence Party UNIP which become the sole legal party in Zambia and the Cabinet
executed the central committees’ policy. The Constitution stipulated that the sole candidate in
elections for the office of president was the person selected to be the president of UNIP. This led
to the one-party State. (State.gov). It is apparent from these developments that virtually no
distinction was perceived between the party and the government, so much so that all decisions
were announced in the name of "the Party and its Government (Simoson, 1985). Kaunda (1973)
“The Party is supreme in our One-Party Participatory Democracy. It is the source of national
policy. The Party will not only be interested in working out broad policies and objectives, it will
be directly involved in the planning, organization, control and management of the entire
administrative machinery of our nation”. To enhance further development to all parts of the
country and to be inclusive the Government decided to decentralize the administration of the
local government. In 1980 the government come up with the Local Administration Act 1980,
This Act had three principal objectives. The first objective was the desire of the United National
Independence Party (UNIP) and the government to decentralize power to the people to enable
them to take part in the decisions that affect their destiny. The District Council was expected ‘to
ensure that the administration of the district is carried out in such a manner as to achieve
decentralization and the transfer of power. The second objective was that of creating District
Councils as ‘front-liners’ in the development process. The District Council was expected ‘to
formulate long-term and short-term development programs. The third objective is ‘to ensure an
effective integration of the primary organs of the party and other organs of local administration
in the district’ (Republic of Zambia, 1980, p. 127).The reason behind this integration of the party
and other organs of local administration into one body the District Council was to solve
problems of lack of coordination and repetition of efforts and resources that local administration
faced before 1981. As this policy was been implemented the government ran into serious
difficulties due to corruption within the civil service, government and the parastatal sector and
declining government revenue caused by the falling price of copper. Discontent grew throughout
the country because of rapidly declining income and rising prices this led to student protests,
worker militancy, growing opposition within the ruling class which led to the formation of the
Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD).(Nationsencyclopedia.com)

In December 1990, at the end of a tumultuous year President Kaunda signed legislation ending
UNIPs monopoly on power. In growing popular demand for Multi-Party Democracy between the
Kaunda government and the opposition groups, Zambia enacted a new Constitution in August
1991. The constitution enlarged the National assembly from 136 members to a maximum of 158
members, established an Electoral Commission and allowed for more than one presidential
candidate who no longer had to be a member of UNIP (State.gov) On October 31, 1991 MMD
candidate Fredrick Chiluba carried the presidential election over Kaunda with 81% of the vote
ushering in the third republic. The Government republic of Zambia by Constitution 1991 was
comprised of the three main branches which were the Executive – led by the president and head
of Government, the Legislative the National Assembly – led by the Speaker and the Judiciary –
led by the Chief Justice.(ibid) Chikulo (2009) Consequently, the transition to a multi-party
system demanded a restructuring of local government. Firstly, local government had to be ‘de-
linked’ from the ruling party and secondly, measures were introduced to strengthen democratic
control over administration, and increase its accountability to democratically elected bodies. The
promulgation in August 1991 of the Constitution of Zambia Act (No.1) and the Local
Government Act (No.22), ‘delinked’ the ruling party from all civil service and state apparatus,
repealed the 1980 Local Administration Act (No.15), and re-introduced the distinction between
the ruling party, the central government, and local government furthermore the government
wanted to improve public service delivery through the public service reform programme, These
programmes objectives were restructuring of the public service that entailed the downsizing and
rightsizing of government departments. The main objective of this component of the programme
was the attainment of a less costly but more efficient public service. This stems from the general
agreement that the Zambian civil service was large, costly, and generally inefficient and
unproductive. The second component was of management and human resources improvement.
This is essentially aimed at improving organizational and Human Resource Management and
accountability systems in government departments. This called for putting in place management
systems which were both efficient and effective, and developing skills and knowledge which
could enable senior civil servants to manage the civil service more effectively. The Key aspects
to the decentralization of government departments was the creation of new structures to enhance
deconcentration and devolution of powers and functions of government departments. The other
emphasized aspect of the Civil Service Reform Programme was improved financial management
through the provision of more financial autonomy to the provincial and local government
authorities.(Momba, 2007) these reforms also led to the establishment of the Education and
Health boards. Krishna (2006) The Chiluba government did not only embark on good
governance like the setting up of the Human Rights Commission and service delivery reforms
but also liberalization of the economy, this was done at the background of declining performance
by state owned enterprises who relied heavily on government revenue, The administration
committed itself to an economic recovery programme in the face of galloping inflation,
devaluation, a general collapse of the local economy and decline in the per capita income. This
economic recovery programme embraced a policy of macro-economic liberalization that moved
towards privatization. Privatization was open to both local and foreign investors. Consequently,
this was done under the Privatization Act of 1992 which established the Zambia Privatization
Agency (ZPA). The Agency was formed to spearhead Zambia's privatization. By 2001 his
administration was at the nadir of its popularity. The MMD government neo liberal reforms had
plunged large sections of the population into absolute poverty without the protection of a safety
net. Adding salt to injury Chiluba was ensconced in widespread allegations of abuse of office
and the plunder of public assets. (Gewald et al, 2008) this led to mass demonstrations against his
third term bid. In 2001 the MMD government continued to run government under Mwanawasa
who won the December elections, Failure to achieve poverty reduction targets in 2002 and 2003,
due to lack of capacity to utilize allocated resources and implement programmes and poor fiscal
discipline, meant that Zambia was not able to reach the completion point for the Heavily
Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative at the end of 2003 as anticipated. The
government was forced to embark on a painful and unpopular fiscal reform programme in 2004
which involved rationalizing staff, reducing employment benefits for public servants and
implementing new controls on state spending (OECD 2005) as the result of these controls
Zambia managed to the completion point in 2005 and became eligible for debt relief. The
government continued with the privatization strategy inherited from Chiluba's presidency in the
financial, communications, utilities and mining sectors, while restructuring and rationalizing
remaining parastatal firms (OECD 2005). Mwanawasa placed corruption at the center of his
presidency the government later Charged Chiluba with corruption charges, stabilized the
economy with growth of 4.2% on average between 2000-03, and 5.1% in 2004, Economy
diversification into agriculture and tourism though it was still heavily dependent on copper (ibid)
Mwanawasa was elected twice unfortunately he never got to complete his second term due to a
stroke he suffered. Rupiah banda become the fourth head of state after the 2008 elections Bandas
government continued with the MMD policies and it was dedicated to improving Zambia’s
economy, ensuring security, stability and prosperity for all Zambians. Banda worked to improve
healthcare and education, to increase agricultural production and to secure and increase the
number of jobs in Zambia, particularly for people living in rural areas. (Club de Madrid.com).
Seeking re – election in 2011 Banda lost to the Patriotic Fronts Prisendent Micheal Chilufya Sata
who ushered in a new regime, the PF government embarked on an ambitious programme of
strengthening the economy and improving the lives of people by rolling out a huge infrastructure
programme that covered economic and social sectors. The major infrastructure programmes were
done countrywide. They included roads, bridges, hospitals, clinics, education institutions, energy
installations, agricultural facilities, water development schemes and housing projects. The PF
further created 44 new districts to decentralize local governance to far reaching areas, they
equally Increased Civil servants salaries, raised the minimum wage by 2015 Lungu took over
after Satas death and continued with the governments infrastructure agenda including
Constitutional Reforms In 2016, Zambia adopted a new constitution, which introduced several
significant changes to the governance system. The new constitution expanded the bill of rights,
created new institutions to promote accountability and transparency like the financial
Intelligence Cenrtre (FIC) and established a presidential running mate system, among other
changes. However, the implementation of these reforms has been slow, and some provisions of
the new constitution have yet to be fully operationalized. (PF Manifesto 2021) as of 1964
Zambias GDP per capita was at $237 at an annual growth rate of 13.12% to 2021 GDP at $1,137
and growth rate of 18.87%. The National assembly at Independence consisted of 75 elected
Members and 5 nominated Members and today 2023 it consists of 156 elected members and 8
nominated this shows the growth of Government and the effects of decentralization from a paper
administration an electronic serviced system through the smart Zambia.(ibid)

Conclusion

In conclusion Zambia has made significant progress since attaining independence from the
British, from the first republic civil service Zambianaisation and Nationalisation of companies,
working with basic educated people who took over offices to the second republic of the one party
state stabilizing the country and setting up parastatals to balance the economy. Kaundas
government though heavily centralized started the decentralization programe which continued
into the 90s this has come a long way to take decision making direct to the people, the civil
service has since grown from 1964 to date and has since become an e government serviced
system. The governments of MMD however questionable they are on the plunder of the national
resources stabilized the economy and opened it up to the world by liberalizing it, government
reforms like the establishing of the human rights commission and in the reign of Mwanawasa
saw a lot growth in the private sector and agriculture. Massive infrastructure development by PF
opened up the road links and new hospitals. Regardless of political interference in government
operations each respective administration has had its achievements and contribution to the
growth Zambia.

References

Chikulo, B. C. (1981). The Zambian administrative reforms: an alternative view. Public

Administration and Development, 1(1), 55-65.

Erdmann, G., & Simutanyi, N. (2003). Transition in Zambia: The Hybridisation of the Third
Republic. Lilongwe, Germany: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

Gertzel, C. J., & Szeftel, M. (1984). The dynamics of the one-party state in Zambia. Manchester
University Press.

Gewald, J. B., Hinfelaar, M., & Macola, G. (Eds.). (2008). One Zambia, many histories: towards
a history of post-colonial Zambia (Vol. 12). Brill.

Kaunda, K.D. 1973. Speech to the UNIP National Council, Lusaka (mimeo).

Krishna, K. (2006). The impact of privatisation in resuscitating Zambia’s economy. Governance

and public services delivery in Zambia, 62-68.

Momba, J. C., & Kalabula, D. M. (2007). Governance and public services delivery in Zambia.

Mukwena, R. M. (1992). Zambia's Local Administration Act, 1980: a critical appraisal of the
integration objective. Public administration and development, 12(3), 237-247.

OECD 2005 "Zambia" IN African Economic Outlook, Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development, 475-488, [www] http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/23/3/34873708.pdf (accessed
23 March 2023).

Republic of Zambia (1980). The Local Administration Act, 1980. Government Printer, Lusaka.

Tordoff, W. (Ed.). (1980). Administration in Zambia. Manchester University Press.

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