Late FDD leader Edith Nawakwi did not die a happy person as everytime she spoke for the people she was slapped with charges by the police, says her lawyer and party vice-president Chifumu Banda.
Addressing mourners today during the funeral service of the late Nawakwi at Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Banda said Nawakwi had died with a lot of charges hanging on her.
“From time to time Edith would speak on behalf of the people. Each time she spoke, slapped with a charge. She spoke again, another charge. And Edith died with a lot of charges hanging on her,” Banda said. “I am speaking because I was a lawyer representing her. Edith did not die a happy person.”
Banda said even when she was admitted at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), the state prosecutors demanded proof that she was in hospital, such that at one point he literally took them to hospital to prove that she was indeed admitted.
“We can do better as a nation … Where is the love,” Banda asked, as most of those who sat on the left side of the Church repeatedly responded: “No love, no love.”
Banda said when competent health officials issued a report on the status of Nawakwi’s health, an agent from the government disputed that there was no proof, thinking she was feigning illness and applied that the matter should be heard from her house instead.
He pleaded with President Hichilema to help heal the country.
But President Hichilema urged against using funerals to incite further divisiveness in the country.
He thanked Nawakwi for her service to the nation in the various roles she held, saying he also acknowledged her role as an opposition leader, including at the time they worked together in the United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
He said his administration was open to dialogue with the opposition as competition does not mean enmity but a competition to serve the people.
