DEAN MUNG’OMBA – THE PRESIDENT ZAMBIANS WERE DENIED

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By Kangwa A Muma
Zambia has had a stream of politicians over the years since independence who in one way or the other inspired their supporters. When MMD came to power in 1991 a number of new politicians emerged on the scene firstly under the MMD and then after differences many spread out into their other new political parties enjoying the freedom of multi party politics just introduced after 19 years of one-party politics of UNIP under Kenneth Kaunda.
In the MMD a new force of young politicians emerged. One of them was a group of four politicians made up of Dean Mungomba, Derrick Chitala, Chulu Kalima and Deepak Patel. They were tagged or got to be known as the Young Turks. Their vibrancy inspired a lot of Zambians especially the younger generation. The real darling of the people was Dean Mungomba who went on to create his own party that made him stand out as a real challenge to incumbent Frederick Chiluba. In business he was also a remarkable force as him with others including Zambian businessmen including James Ndambo opened a dry port in Makeni area along Kafue road. Dean Mung’omba’s challenge in politics to Chiluba was not taken kindly by the incumbent. In the 1996 general elections, Dean Mungomba stood as a presidential candidate under his Zambia Democratic Congress party or in short ZADECO. UNIP which had just lost to Chiluba in 1991 boycotted the elections and this made Mungomba to be the strongest challenger against Chiluba. The other remaining candidates were Humphrey Mulemba for National Party (NP); Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika of Agenda for Zambia and Chama Chakomboka of Movement for Democratic Process. Chiluba won with 72% followed by Dean Mung’omba with 12%. This however created a complete fallout between Chiluba and Mungomba. In 1997, Chiluba survived a coup attempt by some negative elements in the Zambia Army. Dean Mung’omba alongside Dr Kaunda and Princess Nakatindi were later implicated in having a hand in the coup attempt and was arrested and suffered a life of long incarceration. These were believed to be trumped up charges by Chiluba to try and silence his challengers. Dean Mung’omba is believed to have suffered a lot of mistreatment during his incarceration which later affected his overall health even after release.
In 1999, Mr Mung’omba led an alliance of political parties to stand up against the MMD in the 2001 elections but the alliance did not yield the desired results due to disunity. Mr Mung’omba continued with his political career. He died in 2005 due to long battle of bad health suffered from the time of his incarceration. He was later dubbed by some as the president Zambians were denied.