Let Us Not Be Hypocritical About Dignity
While calls for a dignified and respectful funeral for the late Sixth Republican President, Edgar Chagwa Lungu, are indeed noble and necessary, they ring hollow without an honest reflection on how he was treated in his final years.
It is public knowledge that President Lungu our former Head of State and Commander-in-Chief was subjected to repeated political humiliation, unlawful harassment, and systematic character assassination. Despite the constitutional guarantees accorded to former presidents, he was denied his full benefits, his security was stripped, and his public appearances were routinely disrupted by State machinery.
Most disturbingly, he was reportedly blocked from traveling abroad for medical attention, a basic human right that even ordinary citizens are entitled to.
Today, those who presided over or remained silent in the face of such degrading treatment want to preach unity and national mourning. But dignity in death must be preceded by dignity in life.
You cannot strip a man of honor while he is alive and expect to clothe him with borrowed respect when he is gone.
If this nation truly believes in One Zambia, One Nation, then that spirit should have guided how we treated President Lungu all along not just in his death, but in his retirement and illness. Let this moment not become a political smokescreen, but a time for true introspection.
As Zambians, we are not against mourning what we reject is hypocrisy dressed as unity.
Abraham Simpamba
Independent Aspiring Candidate for Chililabombwe Constituency.
But you are ignoring the fact that the man himself was rough. His opponent had to have a police permit, if ever the police could grant such a permit, for him to attend church. He vowed to imprison his opponent if he won in 2021. The best is just to bury without too much rhetoric. If we try to find faults, all are faulty.
You people are just vile. We made a mistake voting for you. It will never happen again.
VOTE FOR CHANGE IN 2026.
Politics involves getting bruised here and there, that’s why they say one has to have a thick skin.He chose politics and he indicated that he could forgo all about security and benefits.In short he became a political competitor after his short retirement from active politics.He had to compete with his fellow members from PF itself.The respect was supposed to start from PF but we saw presidency grabbed from him on independence day.Let us just mourn with dignity and in peace.The debate you are bringing is unnecessary now.
Truth be told. Our late president made a personal choice to “come back” to politics and was fully aware of the implications, one of which was the withdrawal of retirement benefits, as per our law. He is on record as saying “I cannot be bribed with crumbs” when referring to the same presidential retirement benefits. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. The withdrawal of benefits was self inflicted.
Yes, I agree he should have been allowed to move out of the country freely as he didnot break any law.
The current drama in the PF camp also says a lot about his legacy. They think that the law doesnot apply to them (which was the case during Mr. Lungu’s reign) and therefore want to conduct the funeral of the late former president in their own chaotic way.
Meanwhile, Mr. Nakachinda is doing what he knows best, painting the nation black on outside broadcasting networks. At least this time around Mr. M’membe is keeping a respectful distance from the confusion. But for how long, we don’t know.
It is not deniable that he made a choice and went back into politics. BUT even getting back into politics he was denied opportunity to seek medical attention in hospitals of his choice. Was that his problem? That is the issue. He sneaked out of the country to seek medical attention. The government has not denied these facts. Or at least they have failed to explained why he could not go for medical treatment. Instead Minister of information is talking about the fact that is part officials said he was not sick- petty. Why talk about what his party officials said and ignore the fact that he requested to travel for medical treatment. The best the govt should do is to focus on the case before us – final send off of the farmer president.