GOVERNMENT IS TRYING TO DRESS  A NAKED MAN THEY STRIPPED  WHILE HE WAS ALIVE – MY THOUGHTS ON THE  GOVERNMENT’S HYPOCRISY TOWARDS EDGAR CHAGWA LUNGU

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GOVERNMENT IS TRYING TO DRESS  A NAKED MAN THEY STRIPPED  WHILE HE WAS ALIVE – MY THOUGHTS ON THE  GOVERNMENT’S HYPOCRISY TOWARDS EDGAR CHAGWA LUNGU



By Joseph Moyo, Livingstone

The current confusion surrounding the mourning of Dr Edgar Chagwa Lungu, our sixth Republican President, is not a random occurrence—it is the direct result of how our very own government, under President Hakainde Hichilema, has handled his post-presidency. In my view, the government is the chief author of this confusion, having laid the groundwork for this debacle through a string of deliberate and dehumanising actions.



Let’s be clear: the government systematically undressed Dr Lungu—not just physically, but socially, politically, emotionally, spiritually, and morally. They stripped him of dignity in life, and now, they seek to clothe him in death. That, to me, is the height of hypocrisy.



The indignity did not begin at his funeral. It began the moment the state decided to withdraw his entitlements. The moment they chose to deny him the freedom of movement and interaction, even in places of worship. The moment they withheld his financial dues under the guise of legal provisions. It was in these moments that the government took every thread of dignity from him.



And now, with the same hands that tore him down, they wish to drape him in national colours, salute him, and accord him military honours. How do you reconcile that? How do you justify dressing a man with royal garments in death, when you were the one who stripped him of every vestige of honour while he still drew breath?



I am not speaking from a distance. I am speaking as a Zambian, and as a man with serious health challenges. I understand too well how critical early medical attention is. Dr Lungu once sought to travel abroad for treatment. The government blocked him. They kept him confined within a health system that is notoriously underfunded. Would he have survived with better care? We may never know. But that possibility was taken from him—again, by the government.



Now that he is gone, we are told to focus on mourning. We are told it is a time for dignity. But where was that dignity when he needed it most? You do not bring dignity to a man in death when you have denied it to him in life.



And let me be very honest—I am not interested in pretence. The government is not our master; it is our servant. It is we, the people, who put them in power. And because of that, we have a moral obligation to point out wrongs, whether real or perceived.



To now pretend that we must all unify and forget past injustices simply because we are in mourning is to sell a false narrative. True unity is fostered among the living, not the dead. You cannot reconcile with a man in the grave. President Hichilema may claim to have harboured no ill will against Dr Lungu—but those words are now meaningless. Dr Lungu cannot hear them.


It is not enough to declare a state funeral and speak highly of a man you dishonoured. If he was worthy of a state funeral, he was worthy of state respect while alive. You cannot deny a man his entitlements, send police to his home, threaten him with saws and legal actions—and then act surprised when his family, and indeed the nation, questions your sincerity.



Today, the same government that wounded him wants the family to help dress his wounds. But those wounds are deep. And self-inflicted. They have not merely shot themselves in the foot—they have riddled themselves with bullets, and now limp with a shame that they created.



If any lesson is to be drawn from this, it must be that we need to end hatred in our politics. Reconciliation must be for the living, while they can still embrace it. Because when one dies, no apology, no honour guard, no national colours can undo what was done in life.


This is not just about Dr Lungu—it is about the kind of country we want to be. A country that respects its leaders in life, not just in death. A country that sees unity as a living value, not a funeral costume.



Let us not pretend. The government authored this confusion, and now they must live with it. And as citizens, we must hold them to account—not for vengeance, but for justice, and for the dignity of all Zambians.
end

2 COMMENTS

  1. But people are confused and really showing how ignorance can do to certain people, surely ignorance has no diffence. The Bible is very clear, ” people perish because of luck of knowledge- knowledge is power.

    People should allow Mr. Lungu a smooth exit from this life, because the ALMIGHTY GOD. The creator of heaven and earth and everything in it including human beings has already removed the life in him from his body which is now being called his remains and from this world, what is remaining is his earthly body which came from the soil and it has to go back to the soil. PERIOD! otherwise, this confusion by PF is still telling us how this group called PF is still behaving and still carrying out their evil thuggery that is known and identified with them. With all due respect to the dead, let this pf confusion allow former late president Edgar Chagwa Lungu to go properly. MHSRIP.

    If Lungu had issues with the law of the land, that can, in no way make him a saint. Any restrictions that are in the law of the land have to apply. Only thieves can pretend and think blindly about the facts. Whatever the situation, it is better to reflect and think twice. And infact seperate the UPND and President HH now in government and the State and the government systems which does not change; political parties and people come in it and live it again but the State- the government remains. We must therefore, be aware of this.

    So if this pretentious and hooliganism in behaviour we are seeing from desperate pf and certain circles continues like here now, in the end even the value of this high profile funeral will vanish completely.

  2. So at your age you want to shamelessly pretend you don’t know what was going in this country politically? That’s the kind of foolishness that should not be torralated. That lungu you are complaining on behalf chose to remain in active politics as a result when he makes a political jab, his opponents responded with political jabs. That’s politics. So do cry foul now when you failed to advise him to retire from active politics. He got what he deserved as a politician. Stop crying about that he knew what he was doing.

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