ORATION TO THE LATE EDITH ZEWELANI NAWAKWI HAMBULO
BY: Dr. Mbita Chitala, 11th April, 2025.
As we put to rest our dear colleague today when I turn 70, many people will say many things about Edith and other patriots that we have honoured for their sacrifice in fighting for mother Zambia.
For me, and for many of us, it is sufficient for Edith and other patriots that have departed and who proved themselves in action, by action to be thanked and to be honoured.
I stand before you today, dear family members in grief and friends and comrades of Edith, in a country celebrating the illustrious journey of our departed colleague, Edith Zewelani Nawakwi.
To say that we are all in shock and sad at her passing away , is an understatement.
We are all united in our desire to say “Thank you to Edith” for her selfless service to our country.
Edith was the very essence of compassion, kindness, of selfless duty and service to Zambia.
Born on 24th June, 1959 at Mwenzo village in Nakonde, she was the 2nd born in a family of seven.
She lost her mother earlier on but her father is still with us aged in the late 90s. She lost her husband Geofrey Hambulo and she had three children children.
She attended Mwenzo Primary School and later went to Kasama Girls Secondary School where she rose to be the School Head Girl.
She attended the University of Zambia graduating in 1983 with a Degree in Economics and Business Administration.
She then went to the UK where she obtained a Masters Degree at the Imperial College and later at another college a post Graduate Diploma in energy economics.
She joined the Civil Service in 1983 as an economist at the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Energy up to 1985 when she became the Executive Secretary of the National Energy Council.
I came to know Edith in 1989 when Hon. Akashambatwa Mbikusita Lewanika introduced her to me as one progressive Zambian with whom we could work together to challenge the One Party State government. Together, we organized the Garden House Conference that ushered in our country to Multi-Party Democracy in 1991.
She won the Parliamentary seat in Nakonde with a landslide and was appointed Deputy Minister of Energy. She served as MP for Nakonde from 1991 to 2001 and then served as MP for Munali Parliamentary Constituency for one term.
During her years of tenure as MP, she served as Minister of several portfolios including Energy, Agriculture and Fisheries, Labour and Social Security and Finance and National Planning.
In her later years, she also served as President of the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) which is a member of the TONSE Alliance and was a successful businesswoman.
Today, is our chance to say “Thank you” to Edith for the way she made bright our lives, even though, she has left us at a tender age of 66.
Without her pioneering work to convince donors to come back to support Zambia when she was Minister of Finance, we could not have benefited from the support of donors who had blacklisted Zambia during the terrible years when some of our citizens wanted to abrogate our Constitution during the Third Term debacle.
Edith, in the footsteps of the late Ronald Penza laid the foundation which finally led to the more than US$7 billion external debt right – off under the HIPIC initiative.
Without her God-Given sensitivity about uniting Zambia under One Zambia One Nation, we would still be immersed in ignorance about the evils of tribalism, nepotism, bigotry that she has spent her life fighting against.
Without her consistent struggles to fight corruption and abuse of office until her last breathe, we would still be blind to the evils of corruption and abuse of office of public trust.
Without her struggles to see the actualization of a democratic constitution in Zambia, we could have been cheated by the Third Termer advocates who wanted to subvert our constitution in 2001.
Without her consistent advocacy to eradicate poverty and inequality in our country, to reduce the cost of living, for government to maximize on the happiness of its citizens rather than maximizing on their pains, we would still think that our country is condemned to be in perpetual poverty.
Without her struggle to unite all Zambians to stop those of us who want to make amendments to our constitution, and enact oppressive and draconian laws, we honour her for her life of service to fellow Zambians.
Edith called me on 17th May, 2024 when she told me that she was in India. She insisted we talk on Whatsapp as she feared that she was being followed by people who were not friendly to her.
She urged me not to abandon the struggle for a better Zambia even as I was non-partisan and a little advanced in age.
Our Edith passed on after being persecuted by the state for many years and died with several frivolous charges on her person still pending.
In my conversation with Edith, she stressed that we should pledge ourselves to continue the struggle for a better Zambia.
1. To all Zambians; political parties, faith organizations and NGOs, women, student and young people, workers and farmers – all – to unite and advance democratic Constitutionalism, good governance and stop the attempts to abrogate our constitution and ensure the repeal of all draconian laws such as the Cyber laws and the Public Order Act.
Edith was passionate that the People must rise above partisan interests to stop the tragedy that had befallen our country as she, herself and others did when they sacrificed during the Third Term debacle to stop the abrogation of our constitution and and when we united under the MMD to overthrow the one party state in 1991.
2. To Address poverty eradication and high cost of living in our country. Edith was unhappy about the – induced rise of cost of mealie meal and food, high electricity costs and load shading, high costs of petroleum products, lack of medicines in hospitals and general rising poverty and inequality of our people occasioned by bad governance.
3. To eradicate the policies and practice of tribalism, nepotism and bigotry. Edith was sad that our country had abandoned the motto of One Zambia One Nation and the advancement of meritocracy and that our country was divided on tribal and provincial lines.
4. To stop corruption and abuse of office of trust. Edith was particularly annoyed at the re-privatization of MOPANI and KCM as well as the unacceptable crooked abuse of public institutions such as NAPSA, and ZESCO.
5. To professionalize the civil service and advance meritocracy. Edith was unhappy at the destruction of the professionalism of the civil service and the weaponization of the Zambia Police Service, the Judiciary and the Electoral Commission.
6. To empower the indigenous middle class, women, young people and differently-abled persons. Edith was passionate about advancing our middle class and protecting our sovereignty.
I would like to end by thanking you all – the family, friends, all – for mourning our Edith in dignity and honour.
And on behalf of the many friends and colleagues of Edith, we pledge ourselves to continue the struggle to overcome the challenges and emulate the good deeds that Edith selflessly gave to our motherland.
MHSRIP to