SHOULD PRESIDENT HAKAINDE HICHILEMA DELEGATE HER HONOUR, THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA, MRS. W.K. MUTALE NALUMANGO, TO THE FUNERAL OF PRESIDENT EDGAR LUNGU?

SHOULD PRESIDENT HAKAINDE HICHILEMA DELEGATE HER HONOUR, THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA, MRS. W.K. MUTALE NALUMANGO, TO THE FUNERAL OF PRESIDENT EDGAR LUNGU?

By Rev. Lawrence Musunte

In this article, I am endeavouring, by the grace of God, to make sense of the political fallout between the President of Zambia and the family of the late President Edgar Lungu.

I love politics just as many of you love soccer. I am not a political analyst, but I write from the gallery, as an observer who is wrestling with the drama before us.

Some will dispute whether we should even call this a political fallout, and rightly so, because in politics there are no permanent enemies.

Politicians switch camps, reconcile with adversaries, and shake hands with those they once branded traitors. Yet the beef between the current President and the Lungu family appears more personal than political.

The family of the late President Edgar Lungu has declared that they do not want President Hakainde Hichilema near the body or coffin of the late President.

Let me be clear: Hakainde Hichilema has never, in his personal capacity, demanded to be near the coffin. But the moment a State funeral is declared, national protocols are activated, and by law and custom, the Commander-in-Chief presides.

So, how can this issue be resolved? Some sections of our society, including the Patriotic Front Party, argue that President Hichilema should stay away out of respect for the family and simply delegate Her Honour, the Vice President, Mrs. Mutale Nalumango, to represent him at the funeral.

This is where I must say: that thinking lacks critical depth.

FUNERALS ARE SACRED AND POLITICAL

Funerals, especially of national figures, are supposed to unify the nation. Zambia prides herself as a Christian and peaceful country. At such a moment, we should be pushing for unity, not division.

Excluding the sitting President is not just a slight on him personally, but on the millions of Zambians he represents. Leaders carry the dignity of the people who elected them.

To shut out the Head of State is to fracture the very cohesion a funeral is meant to inspire.

It is even worse when we remember that this is the same Hakainde Hichilema who was barred from attending the funeral of Dr. Kenneth Kaunda while still in opposition.

And let us not forget the words of Edgar Lungu himself, who once said of HH:

“This Tonga will never be the President of Zambia.”

So I ask: when Church leaders and political voices shout that HH must stay away, do they consider the millions who voted for him?

Do they think about how this alienates the Tonga people of Southern Province?

Do they pause to think about UPND members, his Cabinet, his Ministers? When you isolate the President, you are not isolating a man, you are isolating a whole people.

POLITICS VERSUS CULTURE

I acknowledge our cultural values, intambi. My own in-laws’ from Eastern Province they say:

“Kalipo kofuna ubale.”

There are moments when family is non-negotiable, and funerals are such moments.

Even in the diaspora, we might build friendships, but when death comes, we turn back to family, because you cannot bury umwana wabene (someone else’s child).

This is why the balance between state protocol and family wishes must be taken seriously. Just because President Edgar Lungu did it to the family of KK, that legal precedence set in the Court in Lusaka, Zambia and now in the Pretoria High Court South Africa should not normalise this Embassy Park and State funeral saga.

Perhaps we should even revisit our policy on State funerals and make them optional, to allow families their space while still honouring our leaders.

But we cannot escape this reality: funerals in Zambia are both cultural and political. They are sacred spaces, but they are also stages of power.

WHY PRESIDENT HICHILEMA CANNOT DELEGATE HIS VICE PRESIDENT

Here lies the heart of the matter. Once the President is excluded, the State funeral is automatically downgraded.

When the sitting President is given a cold shoulder, the insult is not personal alone, it is institutional.

Now, about delegation. To “delegate” is to say:

“In my absence, my delegate is me.”

The Vice President does not arrive as herself; she arrives as the living presence of the President. She is the constitutional mirror of the Head of State.

So if the President is barred, then delegating the Vice President makes no sense, because the objection is not against the individual Hakainde Hichilema, but against the very office of the Presidency.

It’s like saying, “We don’t want Chibuku beer at our party,” and then sending Mahewu in Chibuku sachets. Whether bottled or bagged, the brand is the same.

Could government still be represented? Yes, but only through Ministers such as Foreign Affairs or Home Affairs, attending in their official but non-presidential capacity. The Vice President may attend in her personal capacity, but she cannot, and must not, speak for the President who is unwanted.

THE POLITICS OF A FUNERAL

Make no mistake: politicians will capitalize on this. Imagine the narrative;

“The entire Cabinet attended, MPs attended, the President was missing. See? They loved Edgar Lungu more than HH.”

I call this position of the family a soft coup. And if I were part of HH’s government, I would not attend a funeral where my President was deliberately barred.

HERE IS MY SUMMARY STATEMENT NEWAKWA MUSUNTE

The President cannot delegate the Vice President to represent him at a funeral where he himself is unwelcome. To do so would be to sneak the office of the Presidency into a space where it has been openly rejected. The family’s refusal is not against a man, it is against the office.