Pick up any Zambian Kwacha banknote and pay attention to two birds on its face. They are birds of prophecy in the story of our republic.
To the far left of the banknote there is a white dove flying towards the seat of Government, and it has been flying there since it appeared on the new K500 note of 1992.
You will notice that the eagle perched on the right is looking towards the arrival of that dove. If you recall the words of Kenneth Kaunda on Africa Freedom Day at State House on Monday, May 25, he said in part: “I bless and therefore release the nation, its people and the Presidency from every negative forces made against this nation. I submit the souls now living and posterity and also its Presidency to the salvation and Lordship of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father.”
The dove, representing the Holy Spirit that descended on Jesus after His baptism (Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21 and 22, John 1:32-34), is coming to save and revive Zambia and even the three arms of Government will experience the Great Awakening.
At the back of the banknote, the same dove is flying towards British sculptor James Butler’s Freedom Statue. The waves of salvation and revelation will set Zambians free in multitudes.
This prophetic account is not conjecture, it is historical reality. I salute the Kitwe Online Forum for publishing A Catalogue Of Zambian Money, covering the period 1953 to 2011, where the banknotes imagery has come from.
Follow closely:
TEN SHILLINGS
The 10 shillings note, used in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, bringing together present-day Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe, had the face of Queen Elizabeth II towards the right.
Issued in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia in June 1960, the note has a striking feature that did repeat itself in decades to come: An eagle had started flying from the bottom left towards the seat of power.
In January 1960, Kenneth Kaunda was released from his nine months’ imprisonment which saw him incarcerated first in Lusaka and later in Salisbury. Hoping to mollify political tensions among the three territories, the colonial rulers had unified them in the Federation to be a self-governing colony under Lord Malvern, who was succeeded in 1956 by Roy Welensky.
Northern Rhodesia would provide the bulk of economic resource for the whole Federation, though in conditions where Africans had no vote. Rhodesia (the collective name for the northern and southern territories) had by then been self-governing for three decades without Africans having a say in their governance.
The 10 shillings note came at a time when the eagle of independence was arising in the federated states, with more Africans taking seats in legislative councils. In March 1963 the demands for independence reached a crescendo, and December 31, 1963 the Federation was formally dissolved.
It came to pass that The Currency Act of 1967 replaced the Zambian pound, shilling, pence currency with new Kwacha and Ngwee currency. On January 16, 1968, the Zambian pound was replaced by the Kwacha with the new official rate equal to one half of the old unit, or US$1.
The five-pound note became 10 Kwacha, the one-pound note became two Kwacha, the 10-shilling note became one Kwacha, and a new 50 Ngwee note was introduced to correspond to the old five shillings. The currency was decimalized, and the flying eagle took its place on the new coat of arms.
TEN KWACHA
A new ten kwacha note appeared in 1968, working its way through the economy till it was replaced in 1981. The republic’s noble eagle appeared in the left bottom corner, and as opposed to its parent in the ten shillings note, it was flying in a state of fury.
If the rulers and their followers in the ruling party had paid attention, they might have read the signs on the money, and taken warning about rising discontent around the republic.
In 1968 Zambia became a one party state and KK was elected unopposed.
The Mulungushi economic reforms of April 1968 saw government take equity holding in a number of foreign-owned companies with the National Commission for Development Planning being established.
The NCDP formulated two plans to buoy the economy; Transitional Development Plan and the First National Development Plan which succeeded in securing major investment in infrastructure and manufacturing sectors.
After the economy had been reorganized and huge parastatal bodies formed to control set sectors, the oil crisis of 1973 hit and Zambia’s export revenues, dependent mostly on copper prices, slumped. From providing 95 per cent of all export earnings by 1973, copper earned half its value by early 1975.
Zambia was not always in debt with institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF); this followed a balance of payments crisis which even derailed the Third National Development Plan. The 1980s saw Zambia, struggling with a gross domestic product (GDP) fall into the bracket of most highly indebted countries in the world.
The fury of the eagle was arising. Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe, who had led the United Progressive Party (UPP) and Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula who had led the African National Congress (ANC) joined UNIP and tried to run for president. The party constitution was changed to require that a candidate should have been a member for a period longer than what now applied to the new arrivals Kapwepwe and Nkumbula.
KK was reelected in 1978 and the two freedom fighters tried to challenge the election in the high court, and failed. Before them, UNIP members like Sylvester Mwamba Chisembele who was minister for Western Province tried to seek internal reform to water down the president’s powers, but the great leader did not agree.
On October 31, 1980, eight suspected coup plotters were arrested at a farm in Chilanga: Among them were State Counsel Edward Shamwana, Valentine Musakanya, Godwin Yoram Mumba, Anderson Kabwili Mporokoso, Thomas Mpanga Mulewa and Lieutenant-General Godfrey Miyanda. Persons from the then Zaire were also picked up: Deogratis Symba, Albert Chimbalile and Laurent Kanyembu.
The trial took 11 months, culminating in trial Judge Dennis Chirwa acquitting Lt. Gen. Miyanda and finding the rest guilty. KK granted them a presidential pardon and they were to be released in 1990.
The fury of the eagle was unleashed: in 1981 strikes hit the country and unionists like Frederick Chiluba were arrested.
FIFTY KWACHA
In the banknotes that followed, the eagle returned to its place at the top of the coat of arms and became a silent guest at every meal and a silent listener to every conversation.
In 1986 a new K50 note was issued. As opposed to all previous banknotes, the eagle was now perched at par with the head of State and government. If you look closely, the eagle had turned its back on KK and was looking to the left hand side (or to its right) of the note. This is the direction from which the white dove flies on all of today’s banknotes.
The people turned their backs on UNIP as the economy plummeted. In the same year, protests broke out in Lusaka and on the Copperbelt, which persisted in 1987.
When the President opened the fourth session of the Fifth National Assembly on January 16, 1987, life within UNIP had turned volatile. Just like the eagle on the K50 note, even his parliamentarians had turned their backs on one-party rule.
The President told the MPs not to turn the House into a forum for voicing anti-party sentiments, and urged the Standing Orders Committee to act against the culprits.
“I have to reiterate for the benefit of this House that no individual or organization should be seen to operate outside the ambit of UNIP. The Party is supreme in a very real sense.”
At the time, Copperbelt riots had taken place, leaving 15 dead. The President said though the cost of living had climbed, it would have been much higher had the Party and its Government not maintained mealie meal prices, fixed in September 1985.
Nonetheless, the all-UNIP House rejected bills it was expected to pass:
The Estates Duty (Amendment) Bill fell through on March 17, 1988. The Bill sought to increase the taxable value of deceased persons’ estates but was roundly excoriated by MPs, forcing Minister of Finance and Planning Gibson Chigaga to defer it.
Simultaneously, frontbenchers’ efforts to oppose amendments to the Sales Tax (Amendment) bill were rejected by the backbench. Chigaga was at pains to warn that Government may be forced to go and borrow money if the amendments went through. These were amendments on an item that sought to increase tax on pharmaceutical drugs.
The State’s bid to control prices of imported goods suffered a major setback when the House ordered the Minister of Commerce and Industry to revoke two statutory instruments that empowered the State to determine prices; namely Statutory Instrument 3 of 1988, Control of Goods (Price Control) (Imported Goods Prices) Amendment under Section Seven; and Statutory Instrument 199 of 1987 dealing with the same matter.
Statutory Instrument 58 said: “No person shall sell, offer or expose for sale anywhere in Zambia whether by wholesale or retail any imported goods, unless and until the actual maximum price has been approved in writing by the Prices and Incomes Commission.”
By the end of the month, the instruments were revoked through Statutory Instrument 59 of 1988.
Then there was the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill which aimed to allow people holding or acting in certain posts, offices or appointments to be elected MPs without resigning such positions. The Electoral (Amendment) Bill 1988 sought to repeal a subsection the Act stipulating that a person holding or acting in any post, office or appointment in any of the armed forces of Zambia shall not be qualified to be elected as a member of the National Assembly unless he has resigned from such a post, office or appointment.
The bills were then due for the second reading. In the end, the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill was defeated in Parliament with only 58 MPs voting for it to be read a second time and 48 voting against. Government failed to muster the mandatory two-thirds majority required for any constitutional amendment.
Then on October 5, 1988, a total of 16 men were picked up for attempting a coup. The group included Lieutenant-General Christon Tembo, Benjamin Mwila, Colonel Bizwayo Nkunika, former ministers Bob Litana and Wilfred Wonani, and Emmanuel Hachipuka. Others were Peter Vundamina, Harrington Kayela Chishimba, Major Patrick Shula, Major Knight Mulenga, Major Nixon Zulu, Captain Wamulume Maimbolwa, the late John Kalenga, Donald Sadoki and Matiya Ngalande.
Warrant Officer Christopher Chawinga and others were accused of trying to rescue the group and also arrested.
Government raised the prices of mealie meal in May 1990 and riots erupted in Lusaka and the Copperbelt. Lieutenant Mwamba Luchembe in that atmosphere announced on July 29, 1990 that the army had taken over. After three hours, Luchembe and some alleged accomplices were detained. Some others were also arrested for celebrating the coup attempt.
They were all released months later following a presidential pardon. In response to growing public pressure, Kaunda set October 17, 1990 for a referendum to decide whether to return to multi-party democracy or to maintain one-party rule.
100 KWACHA
In 1991, when we all absent-mindedly sang, ‘Like our noble eagle in its flight,’ from the National Anthem, a new K100 note landed. The eagle, for the third time since 1960, was viciously flying in from the bottom left of the banknote.
The MMD was rousing a groundswell of nationwide support and the National Anthem’s ‘dignity and peace ‘neath Zambia’s skies’ which UNIP princes sang all over the place left the ruling party. All was turmoil and disintegration until on August 2, Parliament ushered the Constitution of Zambia 1991 Bill through with unanimous support—109 to nil.
Kaunda assented to the repeal of Article Four, closing the one-party era and ushering in pluralist democracy. On September 5, he dissolved Parliament and set October 31 for the elections.
A new K500 kwacha note filled the tills in 1991, and the eagle had landed. It had succeeded the founding father. It was looking to its right, at the glowing white dove.
On December 29, 1991, Chiluba declared Zambia a Christian Nation. At the age of 91, Kaunda declared the nation ‘released’ and ‘blessed.’ If you read the entire Psalm 91, you will see how crucial the number 91 becomes to the republic.
Psalm 91:4 tells Zambia: “He will you cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge.”
The dove, the sign of the Holy Spirit, is coming to Zambia. We are covered.
Email: all.information@ymail.com.