The Unburied Silence: A Nation’s Conscience on Ice
The calendar is a cold witness. On March 5th, 2026, the remains of former President Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu will have spent nine months in a mortuary. Nine months, the same duration it takes to bring a life into this world, is how long we have allowed a former Head of State to remain in the transition between life and the earth.
This is no longer a political stalemate; it is a profound moral crisis that strips away our veneer of “Ubuntu.”
The core of the deadlock is well-known. The government maintains its duty to provide a “dignified state funeral.” Conversely, the bereaved family has remained firm on a single, specific condition: that President Hakainde Hichilema does not preside over the ceremony.
While legalists argue over state protocol, we must ask: Whom does a body belong to? In Zambian culture and many spiritual traditions, the family is the primary custodian of the deceased’s peace. By insisting on protocol over the family’s emotional and spiritual requirements, the state hasn’t just provided a “send-off”, it has created a standoff that borders on the inhumane.
To many, this delay is not merely an administrative hiccup; it carries heavy spiritual connotations. We are a nation that believes in the sanctity of the dead.
There is a universal biblical spiritual principle: you reap what you sow. To sow bitterness and delay in the face of death is to invite a harvest of the same.
There is a burden on the land which you can’t see with physical eyes: Keeping a leader unburied for nearly a year, creates a “frozen” state of mourning for the country, preventing the collective psyche from healing and moving forward.
Imagine, for a moment, that the roles were reversed. If this were your father, husband, or grandfather, would you accept his body being used as a pawn in a political chess match? The Lungu family has been in an active state of mourning for over 270 days. While the rest of the country goes about its business, working, laughing, and living, this family wakes up every morning to the reality that their patriarch is still on ice. Even against one’s worst enemy, there is a line that humanity forbids us to cross. That line was crossed months ago.
We have failed Dr. Edgar Lungu, not as voters or partisans, but as human beings who confess the love of God. Arguments about “state rights” lose their flavor when weighed against the tears of a widow and children.
To those in power and those advising the standstill: Look deep into your souls. Find that small grain of humanity that exists beyond the corridors of power. To “do the right thing” is not a sign of weakness; it is the ultimate sign of leadership.
Give the family their peace. Give the late President his rest. Let us bury the bitterness before it buries our national conscience.
The Struggle Continues
Sensio Banda
Former Member of Parliament
Kasenengwa Constituency
Eastern Province
Ba Sensio Banda, from your article you say, “There is a universal biblical spiritual principle: you reap what you sow”.
What did Mr. Lungu sow to reap this delayed burial, if I may ask?