FORMER VICE PRESIDENT, DR. NEVERS MUMBA ON WHETHER PRESIDENT HH SHOULD ECL’S FUNEREAL OR NOT-Interesting, read and leave your thoughts 👇
TO ATTEND OR NOT ATTEND? THATS THE QUESTION
Following my earlier statement today concerning the arrest of Dr. Fred M’membe, and the constitutional considerations raised therein, I have received many messages, both publicly and privately, asking why President Hakainde Hichilema cannot simply excuse himself from the funeral of the late Sixth Republican President, Edgar Lungu, and assign Her Honour the Vice President or another senior official to officiate on his behalf.
I respond as a former Republican Vice President, and as an individual who holds a deep reverence for the solemn architecture of our Republic, Zambia.
Allow me to start by saying the Office of President in Zambia is not merely administrative. It is the constitutional repository of the sovereign will of approximately twenty million Zambians, those at home and those abroad. The President of the Republic of Zambia does not govern in his own personal right. He governs by mandate, because he holds in trust, the collective authority of all the citizens of Zambia.
In essence, the President is the living vessel of our national unity. He is the guarantor of our constitutional continuity and the Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces. When he stands at a national ceremony, he does not stand as HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, an individual citizen. He stands as the embodiment of the entire Republic. That is the seriousness and the solemnity of the office.
Now, when a State Funeral is declared, it means that a profound constitutional statement has been made. It is an affirmation that the life that has passed and is being honoured belonged not only to one family, or to one political party, but to the nation of Zambia as a whole. In that declaration, the Republic of zambia summons all her citizens to stand together in mourning that particular fallen hero.
Naturally, it is not possible for all twenty million Zambians to physically assemble in one place. Yet in constitutional theory and national symbolism, all of us, twenty million Zambians must be present to mourn the fallen hero, upon whose demise a state funeral has been declared.
Therefore, it becomes a requirement that the only individual in whom that collective presence is lawfully embodied, that is the sitting Republican President, attends that state funeral. He alone carries the undivided executive authority of the State. He alone wields the current, and valid mandate of the people. He alone can physically stand as the repository of the sovereign will of all twenty million Zambians.
It is important to state clearly that the President’s role at such a moment is not personal but institutional. His duty is to preside over the ceremony on behalf of the Republic.
It has been suggested by some that the President is obsessed with seeing the body of his predecessor, I can assure you, these are mere rhetorical games. As far as I know, He has not suggested, even once, that he seeks to intrude upon the private family space or to convert what is supposed to be a solemn occasion into anything other than a constitutional duty and an act of giving President Edgar Lungu our last show of national respect. The distinction between private grief and public duty must be made very clear.
While Delegation as some are suggesting, may satisfy a few administrative conveniences, It cannot, however, satisfy the full weight of Zambias Administrative, Legal, Military, and diplomatic sovereign symbolism. That is the central point.
Our history confirms this principle. At the passing of Kenneth Kaunda, Frederick Chiluba, Levy Mwanawasa, and Rupiah Banda, the sitting President stood at the centre of national mourning. That presence affirmed an unbroken constitutional chain. It demonstrated that while leaders pass, the Republic endures. In summary, continuity was visibly preserved. Even in case where a sitting President died, the instruments of power immediately passed to the acting Head of State who would carry out this solemn duty and ensure that this protocol is respected.
Legally, once a funeral is declared a State occasion, it ceases to be exclusively private. The family retains honour and consultation, but the ceremony becomes governed by national protocol, military regulation, and diplomatic convention. The Commander in Chief cannot be absent from military honours rendered to a former Commander in Chief without raising serious questions about institutional coherence. In short, structure matters.
The regrettable burial impasse, including the litigation that has unfolded in South Africa, has tested our nation’s patience. Yet difficulty does not dissolve duty. On the contrary, such moments of tension demand greater obedience to the principles of constitutional provisions and guidelines.
There is also a serious jurisprudential implication in the suggestion that a sitting President, in this case, that President Hakainde Hichilema should willingly absent himself because that is the private preference of the family of the deceased or, even, the stated dying wish of his predecessor.
If the President allowed such a constitutional obligations at the highest level to be set aside on the basis of the personal instruction of the former first family, then that would set into motion a Presidential precedence that can allow any family in Zambia to set aside any constitutional duty, even when this is at variance with the law, and that would open a legal can of worms which can permanently undermine the supremacy of the Republican Constitution. If that precedent is accepted today, tomorrow any family may assert exemption from statutory obligation on similar grounds. In summary, the law cannot operate with selective exception without ultimately eroding itself, and it’s own authority. This is called the law of unintended consequences.
In a nutshell, this matter is not about personalities. It is about preserving the dignity of the Presidency and the hierarchy of law.
When a State Funeral is held, all twenty million Zambians must, in law and in symbolism, be present. The only citizen empowered to carry that collective presence in his person is the sitting Republican President. For that reason, grounded in constitutional design and historical precedent, the President must attend and appropriately preside.
That is not a mere procedure. It is a constitutional duty.
Dr. Nevers Sekwila Mumba
Former Republican Vice President
The Lungu family and their supporters are in essence attacking the office of the president of the Republic of Zambia. Nothing less. Zambia is way bigger than this gang of shameless entitled career criminals who looted the Zambian treasury at will.
Secondly, they cannot prove that HH uses corpses to enhance witchcraft or any other type of powers. This is a dangerous allegation that Membe now has a opportunity to prove in a court of law. Instead of bwatabwataling on social media.
Thank you, Dr. Mumba. Let those with intellect comprehend this matter. These PF criminals lack intelligence, including those who refer to themselves as lawyers.