. Tilyenji

By JOWIT SALUSEKI –
IT was a memorable year of hunger such that his grandmother named him ‘Tilyenji’ Kaunda.
Now his mission is to scrap the hunger memories that remain on his name when he takes the keys to State House.
All he needs are the votes that will open the doors to a very familiar house to him as he spent most of his childhood in it as the son to first republican President Dr Kenneth Kaunda.
His persuasion message to the electorate is nothing new as he is focusing on the rather beaten up subjects by almost everyone seeking the keys to this topmost office.
Mr Kaunda’s core priorities if voted as Republican President will be anchored on education, health, agriculture, job creation and black empowerment, industrialization, peace and security issues in the country.
Education is critical to the country’s development therefore a major share of the budget would be channeled to the sector.
He would provide free education from grade one to university stressing to enable the country have a pool of knowledgeable youths.
His plans on health if he forms Government after the 20th January 2015 presidential polls are aimed at ensuring that all health facilities would be stocked with adequate drugs.
“When we are voted into power, we will target to recruit qualified nurses, doctors and other health personnel whom we are going to empower with necessary equipments so that every person who falls ill will be attended to’’, says Mr Kaunda.
On Job creation and black empowerment, UNIP is going to focus on all the resources that the country is endowed with and will attach them to industries so that the economic empowerment will benefit black Zambians as there are the ones who feel the economic blank of economic decline.
“We used to have over 200 parastatal companies during the UNIP regime, unfortunately when MMD took over in 1991, they sold them to foreign capital and these companies thereby rendered over 500,000 people jobless.
Every good Government would have intervened when its citizens are being challenged economically like the way USA President George Bush did when they faced a credit crunch in 2008 by recapitalizing major companies and when those companies became stable the USA government withdrew the subsidies to those firms.
President Bush took those measures in order to save jobs for most Americans because companies such banks and others were too big to be shut down’’, says Mr Kaunda.
On agriculture, Mr Kaunda would revamp the sector through viable co-operatives which will be providing loans to farmers in form of pre-season loans, offering of extensive services and a good marketing structure setup.
The security of the nation was paramount in sustenance of peace; hence he would provide the police and other defence wings with necessary incentives and equipment in order to increase their safety as they carry out their duties.
The fight against corruption is also another cancer that that the UNIP president has promised to root -out if the Zambian electorates entrust him with the republican presidency.
“Our huge plus as UNIP party is our record on corruption where we had a leadership code that used to check how leaders were carrying out Government programmes,” Mr Kaunda says
The fight against corruption will be spot on self checking Government officers and the political leadership, whereby if found wanting, the Government would deal with them.
Born on 30 September 1954 in Lusaka’s Chilenje Township, Tilyenji Chanda Kaunda started school in 1960 at Chilenje Lower Primary.
The requirements to be enrolled then into school were that one had to cross over their hand on the head to be admitted in to grade one class.
In 1964, when all schools were de-segregated, Mr Kaunda had to repeat grade five because he could not speak English, hence he was told to learn for a year in the same grade so that he could master the queen’s language.
He then went to Kamwala Secondary School which in the colonial days was meant for whites only.
After completing Grade 12, TJ as he is affectionately known went to pursue a degree in Social Science at Windsor University in Canada.
The first job he landed on after his graduation was the position of Senior Executive Officer on the political desk in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr Kaunda also worked at Cabinet office as a Principal Officer before retiring from the civil service in 1984 to venture into private business.
He cut his political teeth in 1993 when the then ruling MMD Government accused UNIP of plotting to overthrow the party in power through the infamous ‘Zero Option’.
“Many UNIP leaders were arrested including my brothers Major Wezi Kaunda and Panji Kaunda who were detained at Woodland Police Station and later at Chambokaila prison.
I was also later arrested and detained four days for taking food to my brothers who were incarcerated. That was my first contact with regular political leaders in the party.
While in prison at Chimbokaila, William Banda recruited me as a political activist helping the party through fund raisings,” Mr Kaunda recounts.
“I only spent four days and when  I came out of prison , my first assignment was  to assist those UNIP members who remained in jail with access to  food and lawyers …that is how I got my foot into politics’’, says Mr Kaunda.
Mr Kaunda says he was persuaded to contest the position of Secretary General of UNIP at the party elective congress after living in exile in Zimbabwe from 1996 to 2000.
“The Party big wigs said I should contest that position of SG because that’s the post my late brother Maj. Wezi Kaunda had earmarked to vie for at the party congress in 1996,”  reveals Mr Kaunda.
Mr Kaunda is rating highly his chances of scooping the republican presidency, stressing that UNIP was the only party with the experience to run the affairs of the country.
Only time will tell if Mr Kaunda if voted to plot one will wipe out the hunger and ensure that every Zambian has food on their tables.