The harshness of the SAPs was to cause serious food riots in Zambia during the last years of the UNIP government when subsidies on staples, such as maize meal, were removed. Kaunda was often forced to back-pedal and reinstate the subsidies. In doing so the UNIP government incurred the wrath of the IMF who blacklisted Zambia on the international financial markets, so furthering its poverty. With the halcyon days of post-independence free education and health now in the past the poor in particular needed to look elsewhere for help. Shao says, "when a government is unable to build a clinic in a village, the people's tendency is to look to the church for help." the same was true in Zambia at this period. With the waning of Kaunda's star the power of churches was in the ascendancy again and any serious challenger to Kenneth Kaunda would need to show indisputable Christian credentials.