Mkhondo Lungu put to rest

HUNDREDS of people yesterday paid their last respect to former National Assembly Deputy Speaker Mkhondo Lungu who died on Sunday at the Lusaka’s University Teaching Hospital (UTH) following respiratory failure.

The mourners who included family members, Deputy Speaker of National Assembly Mwimba Malamba, Minister of Higher Education Nkandu Luo, MMD National secretary Raphael Nkachinda and several other government and political party members attended the burial of the former deputy speaker at his Kachule farm of Chief Mphamba in Lundazi.

And Government has described Mr Lungu who also served as Home Affairs Minister as a dedicated and distinguished civil servant who diligently served in the civil service in various capacities.Eastern Province Minister Makebi Zulu said during the burial of the former parliamentarian that Mr Lungu’s contribution to parliament was candid and straight forward as he openly guided Members of Parliament (MPs) in a non partisan manner.

Mr Zulu said the former deputy speaker allowed divergent views from the MPs regardless of their political affiliation.He said that Mr Lungu who also served as Lundazi Central MP for 15 years would be remembered as a person who served the National Assembly and the country with honour, maturity and distinction.

The Provincial Minister said that Mr Lungu died at time when the country could have benefitted from his experience in the public service.Mr Zulu said that the late parliamentarian who started his political career in 1960 as ordinary member of the United National Independence (UNIP) served in various Government portfolios.

“He was first elected into parliament in 2001 under the UNIP ticket as MP for Lundazi central constituency and was re-elected in 2006 under the same party. He was later re-elected under the Movement for Multiparty and Democracy (MMD) ticket and was appointed Minister of Home Affairs in 2010,” he said.

Mr Zulu noted that during his parliamentary career, Mr Lungu served as deputy Chairman of Committees of the House from 2002 to 2010 adding that he was elected as deputy speaker in 2011 where he served upto 2016.And speaking at the same occasion, parliamentary leader of the opposition Garry Nkhombo said Mr Lungu was a humble, firm and fair MP who was also polite.

A family representative, Newton Lungu disclosed that Mr Lungu suffered from protatate cancer and was evacuated to India and thereafter South Africa for treatment.He said the deceased had a respiratory failure which led to his death on December 11.

Mr Lungu who died at the age of 73, was born on February 18, 1943 in Mongu district, he went to Msuzi, Mphamba and Chama primary schools on Lundazi district where he did standards 2,3 and 4.According to his first born son Muhabi, his father studied primary teaching in Kitwe and was deployed at Kapichila primary school in Lundazi where he also studied and wrote his General Certificate Exams (GCE) and was later accepted at the University of Zambia (UNZA) in 1969.

“He obtained a double major in Political Science and Public Administration after which he acquired a post graduate degree in International Relations in Nairobi, Kenya. My father worked for cabinet office, Ministry of foreign affairs and served as first secretary in New York, deputy ambassador in Canada and later London and when he was recalled, he served as chief of protocol under the President Kenneth Kaunda and Fredrick Chiluba administration.”Mr Lungu said.

He said that the former parliamentarian also served as ambassador, deputy permanent secretary and subsequently permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Mr Lungu stated that the former parliamentarian retired from active politics this year.

Mr Lungu is survived by a wife Doreen Museteka, six children, 27 grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Apart from the national mourning, the former parliamentarian was also accorded a three man gun salute.