PRESIDENT HH, LET YOUR PREDECESSOR REST: EIGHT MONTHS OF PAIN, EIGHT MONTHS WITHOUT BURIAL
By Thandiwe Ketiš Ngoma
Today marks exactly eight months since the death of Zambia’s Sixth Republican President, Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu, and still, eight months later, his body has not been laid to rest.
Eight months of waiting. Eight months of suspended grief. Eight months of a family denied the most basic and sacred human right to bury their loved one in peace and dignity. What should have been a solemn period of mourning has instead become a prolonged season of pain, distress, and national discomfort.
The Lungu family continues to endure unimaginable emotional suffering as they are prevented from giving their father, husband, and grandfather a final farewell. No family anywhere should have to plead for permission to bury their own. No grieving household should be dragged into courtrooms simply to perform the last rites of love and respect for the departed.
In our culture and in our shared humanity, burial is sacred. It is not political theatre. It is not a contest of authority or control. It is a solemn responsibility carried out with humility, compassion, and reverence for the dead. When a person dies, whether a common citizen or a former Head of State, their dignity in death must be protected above all else.
Yet today, eight months after his passing, the body of a former Republican President remains unburied. Not because the family has refused to bury him, but because they have been prevented from doing so. Mourning has been turned into litigation. Closure has been replaced with legal arguments. Compassion has been overshadowed by insistence.
At the centre of this painful and unprecedented situation stands President Hakainde Hichilema, whose continued insistence on presiding over the funeral of his predecessor, reportedly against the wishes of the deceased and those of his family, has left many citizens shocked, hurt, and deeply troubled.
Serious questions now weigh heavily on the hearts of many. What is in the body of President Edgar Chagwa Lungu that he cannot be buried peacefully without the personal presence of President Hakainde Hichilema? Why must it be President Hichilema who presides over the funeral and no one else? Why not allow another agreed and respected national figure, to preside over the burial? Why this insistence, Mr President?
To many ordinary citizens, this unyielding determination to preside over the funeral, despite the reported wishes of both the deceased and his family, has created growing discomfort and suspicion. It has raised deeply unsettling perceptions and whispers among the public. Some have even begun to question whether this insistence carries undertones that go beyond normal state protocol, with others openly wondering whether it suggests motives that feel unnatural or even suggestive of supernatural rituals or activities.
Whether such fears are justified or not, they arise because a grieving family has been denied the simple dignity of burying their loved one in peace. Leadership must not only be lawful; it must be compassionate, sensitive, and beyond reproach. When actions create fear, suspicion, and prolonged pain, it is time for reflection.
Mr President, death humbles every human being. It reminds us that power is temporary and humanity is permanent. There is no honour in presiding over a funeral where your presence is not welcomed. There is no dignity in forcing authority over a grieving family. True leadership listens. True leadership shows compassion. True leadership allows healing.
No government owns a human body. No political office is greater than human dignity. No authority should stand between a family and the burial of their loved one.
Eight months is too long. Eight months of waiting is too painful. Eight months without burial is a burden no family should ever be forced to carry.
Withdraw the legal proceedings. Respect the wishes of the deceased and his family. Allow President Edgar Chagwa Lungu to be laid to rest peacefully, with dignity and without conditions.
Zambia is watching. History is watching. The nation waits for compassion to prevail.
Why this insistence, Mr President?
Let it rot in the fridges who cares that thing never used to care about us so why shud HH bother about it. Go tell its relatives to bury it, who stops them except themselves. Before it died, it also talked of plan B, so why complain to HH when that thing is merely fulfilking its Plan by remaining un fridges? Tizaona. Nivao. Tisyeni ise The world goes on
Tell that message to the stubborn Lungu’s, they’re not normal people. We’re tired of things that don’t make sense, which person in the world can keep a beloved relative in a fridge for months? What do they have to lose by burying a corpse? Only people who have no conscious can do such.
You are tight. Nina Esther and the daughter Tasila.
They want to hide the true identity of the person who died in the hospital was it ECL or a Zimbabwean ID. Pali uwafya.
It is not HH’s duty to bury Lungu; that responsibility lies with the government. HH is merely adhering to protocol as the head of the Armed Forces. Please comprehend this with clarity. You aspire to appear knowledgeable while being completely uninformed. Any funeral for a former Republican President, including Edgar Chagwa Lungu, is a State function rather than a private family matter. Access and protocol for such an occasion are dictated by State regulations, which you seem to overlook. Neither you nor anyone else possesses the legal or moral authority to exclude a sitting President from a State funeral; doing so is not only unconstitutional but also disrespects national decorum and the dignity associated with public office. Your attempts to undermine the presidency will not succeed. Zambia operates as a Republic under the rule of law, not governed by emotional whims or political resentments. Why should HH be barred from attending? HH triumphed over you in 2021 and prevented your group from misappropriating public resources; is this the rationale behind your desire for HH’s absence at the funeral? Is your bitterness over losing the election the reason for this stance? The decisions made by the Lungu family, which are evidently rooted in animosity, mirror your own sentiments and the author of this misguided commentary. Please consider revising your post, as this one has regrettably fallen short. We are not all uninformed.