POST-MORTEM WITHOUT CONSENT? DR. KASESE BOTA DEMANDS ANSWERS OVER LUNGU CONTROVERSY
_What justified the procedure, and what did it reveal?_
Lusaka, 29 April 2026 — Amb. Dr. Kasese BOTA has delivered a forceful critique raising serious ethical and legal questions over the reported post-mortem of former President Edgar Chagwa Lungu.
Dr. Bota is not speaking from speculation. She is a trained medical doctor with extensive experience in clinical practice and public health research. During Zambia’s HIV epidemic, she worked closely with patients and communities, promoting informed consent, transparency, and respect for patients’ rights, particularly around procedures involving biological samples.
It is that professional grounding that gives weight to her concerns today.
“When you have suspicious circumstances of death, you can do a post-mortem,” she said. “But as medical doctors, we always inform the family so that the family gives consent. You cannot take anything from a person’s body unless consent is given. And when a person dies, the next of kin provides that consent.”
Her remarks go to the heart of the issue: consent.
Drawing on her medical background, she stressed that ethical procedure is not negotiable, even in sensitive or high-profile cases.
“And in this case, the family never gave consent for the post-mortem. Up to today, they have not told us why it was undertaken,” she said.
Dr. Bota went further, questioning the justification for the procedure itself.
“We have asked what question the post-mortem was meant to answer. We want the Attorney General to tell us what question was being answered so that the public is informed.”
At the center of her argument is what she calls a troubling contradiction. A doctor had already certified that President Lungu died of natural causes, yet an invasive post-mortem was reportedly carried out.
“The doctor wrote that the president died of natural causes. You cannot override that certification unless the doctor is also a qualified pathologist, and that has not been confirmed to us.”
She described the situation as unprecedented and deeply concerning.
“This has never happened in the modern era, except during the World War I and II periods, when prisoners of war were subjected to procedures without consent.”
Her comparison reflects the level of outrage among those who believe due process and dignity may have been disregarded.
Even where authorities insist on a post-mortem against a family’s wishes, she argued, minimum standards must still be observed.
“Even if you suspect foul play and insist on a post-mortem, the family must still be involved. They are the ones who identify the body. None of these steps were followed.”
The continued silence from authorities has only deepened suspicion. Dr. Bota pointed to early media reports suggesting that post-mortem results exist but have not been officially released.
“We were seeing ‘post-mortem results’ circulating on social media. So what were the results? The authorities should now tell us what they were.”
In her closing remarks, she called for accountability and an institutional response, warning that the matter risks becoming a dark chapter in Zambia’s ethical and legal record.
“This is a violation. An abomination. It should never be allowed to happen again. This must be documented in textbooks as a case where a person’s ethical rights were violated.”
As pressure mounts, attention now turns to the Attorney General and the relevant authorities. The central question remains unanswered: what justified the post-mortem, and what did it reveal?
END
When a person dies , and the Doctor certifies that the Death was from Natural Causes, a Forensic Autopsy is not required.
To overule the Doctor’s Certification, there are procedures to be followed.
In the late Dr Edgar Lungu ‘s case, the Person died in a Hospital, and Doctors certified that he died from natural causes.
The circumstances are therefore different from a body found on the Streets.
The minimum the GRZ and SAP should have done was to inform the family…and in cases of this nature a Coroner ‘s Court authorisation is required, and a Doctor seconded by family should have been present during the Process as a witness.
You are really daft and so dull that you are incapable of understanding anything as complicated as medicine; so please save us from your total ignorance. Some of us spent 9 years studying pure medicine so please don’t tell me that I wasted all that time for you to start vomiting that hogwash on us. Just shut up if you don’t know, so simple.