LET PRESIDENT EDGAR CHAGWA LUNGU BE LAID TO REST

It has now been one month and four days since the passing of Zambia’s Sixth Republican President, His Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu, on 5th June 2025. And yet, his body remains unburied, not because of tradition, but due to a prolonged legal dispute that has cast a long shadow over a moment that should have been sacred and solemn.

We cannot speak of honouring heroes while denying one of them burial.
We cannot call for unity while permitting division in mourning.

This moment is not about who held which office, who supported whom, or which side of history one stood on. This is about the values that must guide us: dignity, compassion, and reconciliation.

The question is simple: What kind of country do we want to be?

Do we want to be a nation that treats the dead with honour and the grieving with empathy?

Or one that allows prolonged conflict to define our national character?

We must remember that how we treat the departed says just as much about us as how we treat the living.

This is a call, not to an individual or an office, but to the soul of the nation.

Let us lay President Lungu to rest.
Let us give his family the space to grieve.
Let us allow the country to heal.
Let us show the world that Zambia is still a nation of peace, dignity, and moral strength.

If closure cannot be found in our legal systems, let it be found in our collective conscience.

If justice feels delayed, let compassion not be.

Let the family mourn with dignity.
Let the nation remember with grace.
And let us, all of us, rediscover the heart of who we are as Zambians.

The time for healing is now.
And it begins with compassion.

Issued by:

Hon. Sunday Chilufya Chanda, MP
Member of Parliament – Kanchibiya Constituency & An Advocate for National Unity, Healing, and Reconciliation

Date: 9th July 2025