MBUYA SURE! EVEN IN YOUR DEATH YOU CONTINUE TO DIVIDE THE NATION AND SOME ARE NOW DEDICATING THEIR CAMPAIGNS TO YOU!
That is perhaps the saddest and most enduring tragedy of his political legacy. A year after his passing, Zambia remains trapped in arguments that should never have followed a man’s death. Instead of finding closure, we find ourselves reliving the same divisions that defined much of our national discourse during his tenure.
Families, political parties, regions, and communities continue to view one another through lenses of suspicion and hostility. The burial itself has become a battleground of competing narratives. A nation that should be united in mourning has instead been drawn into another chapter of political contestation.
This is not an indictment of the dead. The dead can no longer defend themselves nor change the course of events. Rather, it is a sobering reminder that leadership leaves consequences long after leaders are gone.
Great leaders leave institutions stronger than themselves. Great leaders leave nations more united than they found them. When a nation’s divisions survive the leader who once occupied its highest office, history invites us to reflect honestly on the nature of that leadership.
The lesson for Zambia is not about Edgar Lungu alone. It is about all who aspire to lead. Political victories are temporary. Power is temporary. Popularity is temporary, but the spirit we cultivate within a nation can outlive us. If we sow unity, unity survives us. If we sow division, division survives us. Today, as Zambia marks one year since President Lungu’s passing, we must ask ourselves a difficult question, “What inheritance are we leaving behind for future generations?”
Nations are not built by the strength of those who divide their people. Nations are built by those who leave behind bridges where others leave behind trenches.
Zambia Forward! Backwards Never! 🇿🇲
Saviour Chishimba
President
United Progressive People (UPP)