About President Rupiah Banda
President Rupiah Bwezani Banda, popularly known as “RB”, is the fourth President of Zambia. He was elected in 2008, having been the overwhelming choice for presidential candidate of the MMD party. As President, Rupiah Banda has dedicated himself to improving Zambia’s economy, ensuring security, stability and prosperity for all Zambians. He has worked especially 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.
President Banda is married to First Lady Thandiwe Banda. Together they have twin children, Duniya and Temwani. President Banda has six other children, all boys. He is a passionate supporter of football and works to get young people involved in sport wherever he can.
Education
He was born on February 19 1937, in Zimbabwe (then Southern Rhodesia). He was born into a family of enterprising Zambian farmers, who had migrated to Zimbabwe to look for employment. President Banda was educated in Zambia; he went to Primary School at Madzimoyo and Katete in Eastern Province and attended the Munali School in Lusaka for his secondary education, the leading secondary school of the time. As one of the brightest students in Zambia, he gained a scholarship to study at the University of Addis Abba in Ethiopia and one to study at the Lund University, Sweden. He earned a BA in Economic History from the Lund University in 1964, becoming one of the 100 or so Zambians to have a university degree at the time of Independence. As he studied, he also served as the UNIP representative in northern Europe.
Rupiah Banda the Ambassador
President Banda was one of a generation of young men who participated in Zambia’s anti-colonial struggle. At 27 years old he became Zambia’s first Ambassador to Egypt, which was then called the United Arab Republic. He left that posting the year of the “six-day war” of 1967. At 30 years old he was named Zambia’s ambassador to the United States and moved to Washington DC. He was among the youngest ambassadors in the American capital and stayed here until 1970.
Experience with Agriculture
In 1970, he was appointed General Manager of the National Agricultural Marketing Board (NAMBOARD), the state crop marketing company. The nature of its business meant that it had a presence in every district of the country. He subsequently became head of the Rural Development Corporation (RDC), the state agricultural holding company, one the largest state conglomerates of its time.
Foreign Affairs
In 1974 President Banda became the Permanent Representative of Zambia to the UN. This experience was crucial for his role as Zambia’s Foreign Minister in 1975.
He served as Foreign Minister of Zambia from 1975, a critical period in the history of Southern Africa. At that time, Zambian diplomacy centred on efforts to liberate Southern Africa and Zambia’s role was pivotal in the events and initiatives leading up to resolution.
Zambia’s abiding interest in the liberation of the region meant that its Foreign Minister was among the key figures in the diplomacy and events that eventually led to the emancipation of the region. Having had such a high regional profile at a critical time in Africa’s history, President Banda is known by, and has interacted extensively with, many of the leaders of the region today.
He also served as President of the UN Council on Namibia which was effectively the government of Namibia while the matter of South Africa’s disputed mandate over the territory was resolved.
Business
Outside of politics, he has always had keen insight into business having run his own companies: Chipoza Holdings, then Robert Hudson Ltd (an engineering services firm supplying the mines) and Allenwest Zambia Ltd (an electrical engineering services firm)
Zambian Politics
President Banda had been Member of Parliament for the Lusaka seat of Munali for many years; this was at the time one of the largest seats as it incorporated what is now Lusaka Central constituency. He lost it in the 1983 elections but regained the seat in 1988. He remained an MP until 1991 when he lost the seat again in the first multi-party elections after 17 years of one party rule.
He has also held the position of Senior District Governor for Lusaka, where he was the political and administrative head of the Zambian capital.
In 2002 his first wife of many years, Hope Makulu Banda, sadly died of cancer. President Banda returned to his farm in Chipata and later re-married. He remained extremely influential in the province as a whole, and after the 2006 General Election he was tapped for the post of Vice-President in Dr. Levy Mwanawasa’s government.
Sport
A great sports enthusiast, President Banda was the leader and inspiration of the Bola-Bola group, the first group of traveling Zambian soccer fans. The Bola-Bola group travelled around much of Africa to cheer the Zambia National Soccer team. President Banda also served as Vice-President of the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) and is life member of the association. He was instrumental in securing professional contracts in Europe for the early Zambian footballers who played professional soccer overseas and he is chairman of the Chiparamba Soccer Academy which helps young Zambian players to develop their talent.