April 21, 2008
Rename Lusaka International Airport To Kenneth Kaunda International …
Posted by brainsplus under Airbus, Airlines, Bill Clinton jets in Zambia, Britain, Kenneth Kaunda, Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, Lusaka International Airport
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Most countries, counties, cities and jurisdictions have found the importance of honoring certain people in their societies who have contributed to the greatest good. They do so by naming important installations, assets, streets, buildings, stadiums, airports, etc. after them.
We at the Zambian Chronicle believe the time for the Zambian Enterprise to do just that has come. Next week we will be celebrating the 83rd birthday of our First Republican President HE Kenneth David Kaunda.
As a disclaimer none of us at the Chronicle has a vested interested in Dr. Kaunda at all, and we are embracing this purely based on principle and merit considering what the founding president did for our nation.
For some individuals, it is inextricably hard to believe that Dr. Kaunda did many great things for the sake of the Enterprise and we understand that but overall intellectual honesty testifies to the fact that if “we the people” do not appreciate him, others will to our own shame.
The British did not fully recognize Winston Church as a national hero, and they got a rude awakening when President John F Kennedy (US) in 1963 honored the Nobel Prize winner.
Churchill was honored again on November 29, 1995 by President Clinton. In an appearance that day before the British Parliament, President Clinton said, “I am pleased to announce here, the home of British freedom, that the United States will name one of the newest and most powerful of its surface ships, a guided missile destroyer, the United States Ship Winston Churchill.
“When that ship slips down the ways in the final year of this century, its name will ride the seas as a reminder for the coming century of an indomitable man who shaped our age, who stood always for freedom, who showed anew the glorious strength of the human spirit,” Clinton said.
To that effect we believe that in commemoration of his anniversary, Lusaka International Airport be renamed as Kenneth Kaunda International Airport. There several airports around the world that are named after important people even on our continent, Johannesburg International is now named after O R Tambo.
It was formerly officially known as Johannesburg International Airport and before that as Jan Smuts International Airport (explaining the airport’s ICAO code, FAJS) after the South African statesman of that name.
The first renaming was done in 1994 when the newly reformed South African government implemented a national policy of not naming airports after politicians. The policy was however reversed later, and the airport renamed again on 27 October 2006 after Oliver Tambo, the former President of the African National Congress (ANC).
On Dr. Kaunda’s birthday anniversary we at the Chronicle will be chronicling several accomplishments 
the former president did for the Enterprise and we will reinforce our calling for Lusaka International Airport to be renamed after him.
It is time, and that time is now to name one of the nation’s major installations after Dr. Kaunda; that’s this week’s memo from us at the Zambian Chronicle … thanks a trillion.
Brainwave R Mumba, Sr.
CEO & President – Zambian Chronicle
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April 21, 2008 at 1:58 am
Brainsplus,
This is a brilliant idea, I hope Levy reads the Chronicle too.
April 21, 2008 at 2:09 am
Whiz Kid,
… if we the people of the enterprise don’t do it, someone else will, we might as well honor Dr. Kaunda ourselves … thanks a trillion
April 21, 2008 at 4:42 pm
this is not just a brilliant idea, but also a honorable thing to do considering what the big man did not only for Zambia but for Africa as well.
April 21, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Very True.
April 23, 2008 at 7:04 am
Lets do that when we’ve built a new airport not that east european cardboard box.
April 23, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Mbulawa,
… hahaha, you made me laugh. We can get started with the name change and then improve on the facelift as we go … thanks a trillion
April 25, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Every now and then, I visit the Zambian chronicle and almost every time brainsplus comes up with a great and brilliant idea.
This is a very constructive debate on Lusaka International Airport and I guarantee you State House reads this blog as you can tell by the many decisions they have made after things first appeared here. Keep up the good work.
April 26, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Ba Chomba,
… your words are kind and it is good to know that you are out there … thanks a trillion
April 29, 2008 at 5:21 am
People, what are you thinking? Are you still living in the spell?
If Dr. Kaunda truly cared for the people of Zambia he was not going to cling to power the way he did, he would have worked hard to invest Zambia’s riches for the future generations. He is one selfish Great Grand Pa I have ever met.
By the way, he did not fight by himself; the Zambian people did. Let us not praise one person and forget the ones who died fighting. It was not him alone who did the fighting but the entire country stood up and said enough is enough.
The true heroes are those who died and never saw the freedom they gave us.
Thanks to the fallen heroes. I would rather name it ‘Bantu International Airport’.
It is easier for people who never lived in Dr. Kaunda’s rule to think he was a great leader or for those related and close to him.
I grew up at the time when horrible things happened and school children lined up in the scotching heat just to wave at him and he acted like a god, waving his white cloth without thinking about the poor children who did not even have water to quench their thirst and some vanished in the thin air not to be seen again. That was abuse as well as cruelty on the Zambian children.
For someone to come up with that foolish idea to rename the international airport is an insult to the people of Zambia. Let us refrain from renaming buildings, Cities and any other public institutions after past presidents. If you feel you owe him a trillion go ahead and name your own child after him.
April 29, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Kaoma JK Mwewa,
… welcome aboard, I grew up during the same period, I lined up to wait for him to come and pass along, I missed school just like you did, I am not related to Kaunda and none of us at the Chronicle are. All that you have mentioned were fallacies that could have been avoided.
The bottom line is almost every nation went through that in Africa at the time, and it is true that others worked with KK to achieve what the Zambian Enterprise did, nobody repudiates that. But it took vision, it took leadership and it took real courage to have achieved what the Enterprise did in a short period of time. Nothing materializes in a vacuum of leadership …
Were grave economic mistakes made during his time? You bet they were, serious ones that almost grounded the nation to a halt. What were they actually based on? Overspending in areas that actually benefited you like education and national security.
If you truly grew up during the period you mentioned, then you would agree with me that half of your teachers if not more at secondary school were expatriates. Do you know how much those were paid just so you could have a free education and come here to argue your points? If your parents were asked to pay for your education, you probably would not have access to the internet right now.
Other areas were simply wasteful areas such as the liberation of countries around us; the Zambian Enterprise paid a premium for that with no return on our investment. We were surrounded by hostile nations; do you know how much was spent on national security alone? Yet our Zambian Armed Forces were once the best in Africa second only to Egypt at the time, read the CIA fact bulletins.
When copper prices slumped, fuel prices skyrocketed we lost our balance of payment. At the time we had sanctions to the South and we could not ship copper to the southern ports for export. Bengweela to the west had been bombed, Beira through Mozambique was shut down; we were airlifting copper to Dar-es-Salaam just so we could trade. The cost of production ended up beating our revenue streams.
We started having deficits, deficits led to an accumulation of national debt so we could open new routes by building Tazara in record time. Mining equipment needed fuel we created the longest pipeline in Africa at the time, all these needed money and we achieve great strides second to none as a landlocked country.
Did Kaunda overstay? You bet he did and I am the first to mention that as one of his downfalls. Did he miss out on making sure he groomed those of a younger mindset? You bet he did and I am the first one to say he erred because one of the marks of leadership has to do with ones ability to groom future leaders.
Going by your name, I would safely say you would understand what northerners say … uushitasha mwana wandoshi. There’s more good to what Kaunda did through his leadership than bad. This has nothing to do with hero worshiping all over again either; many advanced nations do such things in honor of those that helped humanity.
I encourage you to continue with this debate with intellectual honesty. If the present administration does not do it, I will do it when am president or if I don’t get to be, I will name the new commercial international airport I will build in his honor … thanks a trillion.
April 29, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Kaoma,
I find your suggestion that Dr. Kaunda was selfish otherwise he would have invested heavily in future generations ironic.
He invested heavily in you today by working hard we had schools, there is always someone who starts something and others then take over.
I have very strong MMD connections and a lot of my folk are in government today, we all seem to thank God somehow it was Kaunda, not Kapwepwe or Nkumbulu, Zambia would have disintegrated like other nations.
I don’t know what the problem is but we Zambians are lucky and we don’t know it. Brainsplus is not always my cup of tea but on many issues he tends to be more nationalistic than partisan.
I think on this issue he is being nationalistic and I support this idea. If Levy was the first president and we were at this stage in our nation, i would advocate for his name being added to Lusaka Internatinal Airport as well.
May 15, 2008 at 3:05 am
Daniel,
I can see that you are one of the people still living in the spell. I truly find your thoughts to be so backwards.
Firstly, Dr. Kaunda did not invest in me, but the taxpayer of Zambia did. Secondly it is every citizen’s right to have a good education, health and all the freedoms that one would enjoy in a country that he/she calls home. I do agree with you though when you say someone starts and someone takes over. That is what Dr. Kaunda should have done, but power was sweet.
Anyways, back to your claim to have connections in M.M.D; my friend you are not the only one with strong ties, I might have stronger connections than you do and I talk to these people and they have given me their thoughts.I know people who were close to Mr. Kapwepwe and Mr.Nkumbula and none have said they were incapable of being leaders.I cannot understand how you can compare people who never had the chance to prove themselves with a failure.
I can tell you what the problem is with Zambia. It is having people treat Presidents like GOD. The people vote presidents in power and they are supposed to be public servants.