By Chinoyi Chipulu
Chief government spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa says late president Edgar Lungu was a fierce competitor to President Hakainde Hichilema especially when he was in office.
And Mweetwa said President Hichilema had never said he would at all costs be at the Airport, funeral service or burial site for Lungu.
Mweetwa also said failing to bury a former head of state at the country’s traditional burial site for presidents and former heads of states entail that the nation is planting a seed of division in the minds of generations to come.
Speaking on Prime Television on a program dubbed Oxygen of Democracy on Monday, Mweetwa said competition in politics was not enmity and the government never looked at the former president or any other political leader as an enemy.
“I must indicate and put it on record that on the side of the government, it must be admitted that Lungu was a competitor, a fierce competitor to President Hichilema especially when he was in office and the current head of state was in opposition,” he said.
And Mweetwa said President Hakainde Hichilema’s office carried a diversity of laws to be played in the country hence, people could not just hinder him from playing certain roles as this would set a dangerous precedence in future.
He said the death of Lungu should not be used as a seed to plant perceptions of division for the country going forward.
The chief government spokesperson said some people were looking at this matter using political lenses because of the alleged victimization.
“This would entail the country is planting a seed of division to generations to … because as children and other people go to Embassy Park, they will find all former Presidents buried there, except one,” he said.
Mweetwa said the government had regretted the impasse right from the start.
“We do believe that in the Zambian whatever the perceived difference may have been, we shouldn’t have allowed ourselves as a people to reach this stage because where we are now is beyond a family discussion, it is beyond a discussion between political parties, a family and just government. It is a discussion that has engulfed the whole nation, the SADC region, the African continent,” he said.
Mweetwa said the country had been placed on the global spotlight.
“So the impasse therefore, that has risen after the untimely demise of Lungu is truly on the part of the government regrettable. It’s the desire of the government that all options must be left of the table towards an amicable solution and resolution to this impasee so that Lungu can be given a befitting dignified farewell,” he said. “It is the desire of the government to have the remains of Lungu interred in his homeland, and this position arises from the precedence we have set for ourselves.”
Mweetwa said although Lungu died in South Africa, he was not a citizen of that country.
Asked why government did not respect the former presidents wishes which were announced by the family, Mweetwa said the government was not insisting from without, but had been expressing its desire that the former president be put to rest in his homeland based on the established practice that the country had developed overtime.
He said the government’s position to have Lungu buried in his homeland was precedential.
“You remember the case of the people vs Kaweche Kaunda, he was representing the family that former president Kenneth Kaunda had to be buried elsewhere,” he said.
Mweetwa said the practice of burying former presidents at Embassy Park was not just a mere practice but it had evolved to assume the force of significant legal force because it was one which the courts had indicated.
Mweetwa said the President had never said he would at all costs be at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, funeral service or burial site.
He said all the insinuations were being put together by the enemies of peace.
Mweetwa said Zambia respected tradition and as a Christian nation people should learn to forgive.
Asked why the government did not stick to the conditions that were set when it held a press briefing with the family, Mweetwa said the government did everything to keep its word.
“The government did everything a government could do under the circumstances to keep their word but it should also be understood that the things we do today as a government especially, have far reaching consequences and ramifications going forward because what we decide to do today for purposes of convenience, for a family, political party or indeed for the government, will set a precedence going forward that could create a reference point for the future,” he said.
Mweetwa said it was the government’s desire that citizens should understand and differentiate an individual and a President of the country.
He said the institution of presidency represented all Zambians regardless of their political affiliation.
Asked why the government was not responding to pleas from the Church and other stakeholders to listen to family demands and allow them bury the body in the country without Hichilema’s presence, Mweetwa said the government was not blocking the family to bring the body back to the country.
Mweetwa said that in as much as the family wishes should be respected, Lungu was a former president who deserved a befitting send off.
Asked to comment on allegations that Lungu was poisoned, Mweetwa said the law was clear that he who alleged must prove.
He said it was quite scandalous and image damaging to the country to allege that someone had been poisoned by a government.
He said such statements may endanger the Zambians who may wish to seek medical attention in South Africa.
“They might say we are no longer attending to Zambians because you accused our facilities of facilitating the poisoning of one of your citizens. And I would like to appeal to you and to all Zambians that the President is the only elected President of Zambia who is a chief representative of all of us as citizens and his office carries a diversity of laws to be played,” he said.
Asked if the government would send a representative to South Africa for Lungu’s burial, Mweetwa said the government’s doors were still open for dialogue.
