“Power to the People”. Addresses to and Resolutions of the Seventh (extraordinary) General Conference of the United National Independence Party, Mulungushi Rock, 25th - 26th August, 1973

76 Pages·1973·5.143 MB·English

by  coll.

United National Independence Party (Zambia).
Power to the people.
STANFORD LIBRARIES
JQ
2898
U5A2
1973E
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HCOVER INSTITUTION
War,Revolution, and Peace
FOUNDEDBY HERBERT HOOVER, 1919
OTANCORD LIBRARIES
POWER TO THE PEOPLE少
Addresses to and resolutions of the
Seventh (Extraordinary)General
T
Conference of the A
T
United National Independence Party,
Mulungushi Rock,
25th - 26th August, 1973

CONTENTS
Page
I Address by His Excellency the President, Dr K. D.
Kaunda, as Secretary-General ofthe United National
Independence Party, on the occasion of the opening
ofthe Seventh (Extraordinary) General Conference of
theUnitedNational Independence Party, Mulungushi
Rock, 25th August, 1973 1
II Memorandum by His Excellency the President, Dr
K. D. Kaunda, as Secretary-General of the United
National Independence Party, on amendments to the
1971 Constitution ofthe Party 25
III Address by His Excellency President Mobuto Sese
Seko ofZaire to the Seventh (Extraordinary) General
Conference of the United National Independence
1 Party 29
IV Address byHis ExcellencythePresidentofTanzania,
DrJ. Nyerere,totheSeventh (Extraordinary) General
Conference of the United National Independence
Party 33
V Address by His Honour the Vice-President of Bots
wana, Dr Masire, to the Seventh (Extraordinary)
General Conference of the United National Inde
pendence Party 37
VI Address by the Minister of Information and Broad
castingofKenya,Hon. RobertMatano,totheSeventh
(Extraordinary) General Conference of the United
National Independence Party .. 41
VII Address by the Minister without Portfolio from
Malawi,Hon.R.B.Chidzanja -Nkhoma,totheSeventh
(Extraordinary) General Conference of the United
National Independence Party 44
VIII Address by the Deputy Prime Minister of Swaziland,
Hon. Prince Dhlamini Kumalo, to the Seventh
(Extraordinary) General Conference of the United
National Independence Party 46
IX Address by His Excellency the President, Dr K. D.
Kaunda, as President of the United National Inde
pendence Party, on closing the Seventh (Extra
ordinary) General Conference of the Party, 26th
August, 1973 48
X Resolutions of the Seventh (Extraordinary) General
Conference of the United National Independence
Party, MulungushiRock, 25thto26thAugust, 1973 .. 53
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HOOVEX INSTITUTION

I
In the name of Almighty God I declarethis Seventh (Extra
ordinary) General Conference ofthe United National Independence
Party open.
I now ask you all to stand and observe a minute of silence in
memory ofour Party colleagues, our fighters in the Armed Forces,
our fellow Zambians and friends who have died since our last
meeting on this Rock, and also in prayer for the success of this
Conference.
Your Excellency the President of the Republicof Tanzania,
Your Excellency the President of the Republic of Zaire, Your
Honour the Vice-President of the Republic of Botswana, Your
Honour the Vice-President of the Republic of Zambia, leaders of
variousfraternaldelegations,MrChiefJustice,MrSpeaker,Members
oftheCentralCommittee, Honourable Ministers,Your Excellencies,
Distinguished guests and fellow delegates:
On behalf ofthe Central Committee and the Party I say to each
and everyone ofyou, welcome to Mulungushi. IextendtheParty's
warmest andmost cordialgreetings onthisimportant occasion.
I particularly welcome, on behalf ofthe Party, Government and
the people ofZambia, dignitaries and distinguished sons of this
continent who have honoured us with their presence.
I welcome His Excellency Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and his
delegation from the Tanganyika African NationalUnion and the
Afro-Shirazi Party.
I welcome His Excellency President Mobutu SeseSeko Kuku
Ngbendu Wa Za Banga and his delegation from the Movement of
the Popular Revolution.
I welcome His Honour the Vice-President Arap Moi and his
delegation representing Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and the Kenyan
AfricanNational Union.
I welcome His Honour the Vice-President Quett Masire and his
delegation representing His Excellency President Seretse Khama
andthe Botswana Democratic Party.
I welcome the delegationrepresenting His Excellency President
KamuzuBanda andthe MalawiCongress Party.
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In recent years the World Council of Churches has made a
tremendouscontributiontowardstheliberationstruggleinSouthern
Africa. This support has had considerable and positive impact on
the situation. It has been a source of greatencouragement and
inspiration to all those still strugglingfor freedom and justice
throughout the world. It is therefore my pleasure to also welcome
Mr Burgescar of the World Council of Churches to this conference.
I welcome the delegation from Swaziland representing His
Majesty King Sobhuza II and the Prime Minister PrinceMakhosini
Dhlamini.
I also welcome their Excellencies, themembers ofthe Diplomatic
Corps. We have in addition representatives ofZambian institutions
at this Conference.
To you all, our honoured and distinguished guests, I extend
very warm and cordial greetings and fraternal welcome. We are
deeply honoured by your presence. Your presence here on this
Rock is an expression ofsolidarity and of a common commitment
to the cause of unity within our nations, Africa and indeed the
peace-loving nations of the world. The task of unity in Africa is
too great to be left to a few people to tackle and accomplish.
Consequently we must maintain excellent multiple channels of
communication between our peoples, our Parties and our Govern
ments. We must continue to build new bridges so that we can
truly be all-weatherfriends. We in Zambiafeeland appreciatethe
impact of our friendship with our sister African countries, led by
Parties and Governments represented at Mulungushi. We value
the friendship betweenUNIPand other fraternal Parties and this
is why your presence is taken seriously as an expression of our
solidarity and truefriendship.
May I also take this opportunityto send amessage of greetings
to all the people of Zambia everywhere on this occasion. Toyou
fellow countrymen whereveryou are I sendyou our warmest wishes
for good hoalth and continued success in the future. I send these
bestwishes from Mulungushi, the Rock ofunityand Independence.
I assure you that the Party is yours and we the delegatesgathered
here areyour servants. We genuinely mean to serve you and the
country loyally. In the name of the Party I ask you to pray for
unity, peace and prosperity in our nation. I ask you particularly
to pray for the success ofthis General Conference.
I now wish to thank all the workers who have been involved in
the tedious task of preparing for this Conference. The planning
and construction of this site was a collective and voluntary effort
of students and youth, our sisters and mothers of the Party's
Women Brigade and of the Branches and Constituencies of the
Party in the two Regions of Kabwe. Theirs has been a heavy
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responsibility to transform this historic site into the pleasant
place it is today. I thank thespecialist services including theArmy
and the Policewhose contribution is invaluable to the success ofa
Conference ofthis magnitude and importance.
I also wish to thank the various individuals and institutions for
their generous contributions in money or material towards this
Conference.
As you know, the last General Conference was in May, 1971.
The Seventh General Conference was therefore not due until 1976.
This is, therefore, an Extraordinary General Conference summoned
in accordance with the provisionsof our Party Constitution. This
Conference is not merely extraordinary in a constitutional sense;
it is also extraordinaryin the sense that it is a milestone in the
building of participatory democracy in Zambia. The wise and
realistic change inour political and constitutional structure has
made it imperative for us to hold this Conference three years
earlier. The change is a mark ofsuccess and we must beproudthat
wehave achievedsomuchin such a short time. With theprofound
changes thathavetaken place, we couldnot have proceeded on our
march into the next phase of the development of our democracy
without the sanction of the General Conference. Mulungushi is
now part ofour political and constitutionalprocess and hence our
returntothisRockfortheSeventh General Conferenceat this time.
We have four fundamental tasks to accomplish during the next
threedays:
1. To consider and adopt amendments to the UNIP Constitution
occasioned bythe introduction ofthe One-PartyParticipatory
Democracy.
2. To perform the ceremony of bringing the new Constitution of
Zambia into force, replacing the one which we inherited at
Independence.
3. To study and adopt the new UNIP Manifesto which contains
broad guidelines of national policies for the next decade,
together with any other measures designed to strengthen the
nation.
4. To elect a new Central Committee under the amended Party
Constitution and in accordance with the revised regulations.
The period since our meeting in May, 1971, has been one of
momentous change. It has beena periodofchallenge and triumph.
The forces ofunity and democracyhavetriumphedover the forces
ofdisunity and anarchy; the spirit ofself-reliance and freedom has
triumphedoverneo-colonialismand imperialist exploitation; reason
hasprevailed over purposeless folly, sanity over insanity, maturity
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and selflessness over political vainglory, good over evil. Conse
quently, the Zambian people are confidently marching forward
into the future more united than ever before and more determined
to win even more victories, smashing the enemy at every turning
and, like the Zambian eagle, flying clear above dark clouds.
The people of Zambia have continued to enjoy the sunshine of
success notwithstanding attempts that were made to divide the
Party bythe formation of UPP.
To men and women in every walk oflife who have been involved
in fightingthe battlefor unity to victory I say: congratulations and
God bless you.
A historic step came on 13th December, 1972, when Zambia
became a One-Party Participatory Democracy. This was the
culminationofeventswhichstartedin1964whenthefirstResolution
was passed by the National Council calling for a One-Party State
in Zambia. Since that time we have worked relentlessly for the
cause ofnational unity in every possible manner.In themeantime
the Party improved its strength, its image and its administrative
capability to handle the Zambian situation. Itwon more and more
support from the people. There could be no doubt about UNIP's
mandate. The voice ofthe people was loud and clear. They wanted
unity. We had to create conditionsforunity.
Against this background and in accordance with the decision of
the National Council on October, 1971, I appointed a National
Commission under the Chairmanship of Vice-President Mainza
Chona in February, 1972, to work out the machinery for bringing
about the new political system. The National Commission gathered
evidence throughout the country in a completely free atmosphere.
On the basis ofthe expressed wishes ofthepeople the Commission
submitteditsreportwhichwasconsideredtogetherwiththe Govern
ment Paper by the National Council whichmet in early December
at Kabwe. Parliament met immediately and enacted legislation
making Zambia a One-Party Participatory Democracy, which I
duly signed on 13th December, 1972.
Since that date the constitutional process gathered momentum
resulting in the new Zambian Constitution which Parliament
debatedand passed on 14th August, 1973. This Bill could not be
given assent to at a more fitting place than here on this historic
Rock. At this Rock the Five-Point Master Plan was launched
twelve years ago. This Master Plan led to the liberation of this
country. At this Rock, to which we have returned time and again
forinspiration even during thedarkest hours ofour struggle, now
with you the representatives of the people as witness, and in the
presence of outstanding leaders ofour sister nations, I through my
signature do hereby give assent to this Bill.
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