OUR POSITION ON THE CURRENT COVID CRISIS AND KKs BODY GOING TO THE 10 PROVINCES!
We are faced with one of the worst catastrophic waves of covid our nation has ever experienced. We have lost so many loved ones parents, siblings, spouses, relatives and friends. In the last 7 days there are 17,497 new cases of covid and over 275 people have died to covid! We must NOT get used to this type of death!
Our Party President Dr Nevers Mumba strongly feels Government needs to realize the gravity of this situation and respond quickly and appropriately! We are in a WAR with this pandemic and Government needs to provide strong leadership in response . Drastic decisions needs to be taken to ensure the safety of the Zambian people. Government need to adopt war time defense systems to protect our people from this pandemic because our infection rate continues to skyrocket , positivity rate is over 25% and our people are dying in record numbers .
The immediate response of Government must be to defeat this pandemic . We are greatly concerned because we seem to be losing the battle in that our hospitals are running out of oxygen, mortuaries are running out of space and overall our health system seems to be failing to handle the ever increasing cases of covid!
As the Movement for Multi Party Democracy we feel the Solutions are the following:
1) Raise Our voices cooperately to God in prayer that this death angel May Passover over us
2) Each person Take Personal Responsibility by wearing masks, social distancing, sanitizing , stay at home where possible , protect yourself and protect others . Follow the guidelines provided by The Ministry of Health and World Health Organization.
The pandemic has come at a time during elections however our priority must be the health, safety and well being of the Zambian people! We the Movement for Multi party democracy have suspended our campaign because our No1 priority is to protect the Zambian people .
With this foundation laid it brings me to the issue of taking Our Founding Father Dr Kenneth Kaundas body to the 10 provinces. Her Honour The Vice President announces that Our late Presidents body will be taken around our nation! We are OPPOSED to this! It is inconceivable that Government would want to put the Zambian people at risk by this super spreader event!
We know our late President who loved the Zambian people would NOT choose this irresponsible behavior. Considering the outpouring of grief globally it would be devastating for KKs death to be remembered as a death that caused so many other deaths due to people getting covid as his body is transported around the nation !
We appeal to Government to put an immediate stop to this plan to take KKs body around the nation! It makes no sense that we are in a terrible crisis and then want to engage deliberately in a super spreader event !
Let us give Our Founding Father KK the honourable and dignified send off and farewell he so rightfully deserves . All 10 provinces of Zambia and the world at large can watch the funeral proceedings virtually. Again we emphasize KKs body must NOT be transported to the 10 provinces of Zambia!
The health, safety and well being of the Zambian people must be and will always be our priority!
Dr. Mwaka Twagirayesu
MMD Presidential Spokesperson
Lungu better get a grip now and make a u turn before he faces an embarrassing late u turn……..
If this parading of the corpses of our late president goes ahead , the benefits far fall short of the political and other landmines lungu and PF GRZ will face ……..
It’s all about allowances. Imagine how much each one who will accompany the body will make? Even without COVID-19, its just not necessary. We already have 21 days of mourning which is happening in all the provinces.
PF claimed it was Panji and his brothers wish, to abuse their father. If PF wants to abandon funeral, it will be better for the Zambians. Zambians will boycott funeral of KK in those provinces, don’t embarasse KK you people.
This campaign using the dead is bad.
Keep KK resting until that day.
If there is no body viewing due to covid then what’s the point of taking the body around the whole country?
Why make a circus of the founding fathers funeral? Have some respect! MHSRIP
I thought the government acted on the request of the Kaunda family. Why the fuss? Please let’s not politicise everything. If the government didn’t do this, the same opposition leaders would still be complaining. The VP even emphasised that the provincial tours would be done in strict observance of Covid 19 health guidelines.So where is the problem? I am not PF but I am getting increasingly sick and tired of opposition leaders criticising everything ggovernment does. Stop it!
The dead KK didn’t ask for this. The Family is opposed to the idea in view of Covid-19 and the expense to the National Treasury. ECL thinks that he can gain Political Capital thru this exercise. ECL is desperate for Votes as August 12 is fast approaching. The KK Family should stand its ground and stop the abuse of their Father’s ‘s Body. Most important KK’s Will should be respected. He signed a Will in which he clearly stated his remains be interred in a grave next to Betty’s grave his wife at State Lodge. The KK’s Family should respect their Father’s Wish. It shall be well!
@kanamaso the family says they were never consulted and they have sent a protest letter to the secretary of state.
LT and PF stop your Ngoshe-Mukulu to take KK’s body on 10 campaign trips please…
I always said it that if KK dies under PF it will be disaster send-off.
It is the MMD which started this madness.
Please stop this madness.
There is no dignity in taking the tour of the remains our beloved first president. Dedicate one the TOPSTAR /ZNBC Channel to the Funeral so that anyone any time can get in tune/mourn. If they want put cameras at the funeral house. we have a lot wise citizens from traditional class who can guide if given a chance.
Barring the pandemic reasons, there is still no dignity in taking the remains our beloved first president on a provincial tour. May be dedicate one TOPSTAR /ZNBC Channel to the Funeral so that anyone can get in tune/mourn at anytime. I wonder if our wise traditional leaders do not have an alternative advise for us.
Apart from the covid ,…..
Flying around the remains of our late president seems very macabre to most Zambians,
Most likely because of the prolonged load shedding is etched in their memories and the feat seems unthinkable……
Who the fcuk is MMD
But really doesn’t MMD have better things to do than sticking their noses in a matter that doesn’t concern them? The KK burial program is a matter between the family and the government. MMD is neither in govt or representing the KK family. If the family is ok with it, who is MMD?
They should find something better to do
What MMD is saying is what Zambians are Saying. It does not
Make sense to take the body all ten provinces and no body viewing
In these Corvid times.
Who the hell wants to see a corpse in this COVID era? For all I care, they can take him to Chinsali or Nyasaland where he came from to burry him.
Just die from covid, *****
The govt won’t back down on its plans to take the body of KK around the country. There are many factors at play such as allowances for pall bearers, acquiring flying time for ZAF pilots, planning officers and other technocrats involved. Nevers knows how the technocrats work in Govt circles, at the end of the KK funeral program millions of kwacha would have been spent. There will be justification for every coin spent even the people who are supposed to be controlling officers will jump on the band wagon to line their pockets. The KK funeral is a BIG issue in Govt circles.
Prince Phillip died and would have been paraded in Scotland, Greece, Germany and Denmark… but due to Covid restrictions, his death preserved many lives by simply lying in state in one place and had limited members of his family in attendance. Even the {Prime Minister saw the proceedings on the screen).
Was he mourned less?
Tata Kaunda lived a simple quiet life in his retirement … let us, willl he be mourned less if his body was not paraded around the country? By no means no.
I propose we parade his ‘philosohy of humanism instead’ and enshrine ‘Humanism Week culminating into a Humanism Day’ in our calendar.
This week in my days was formative.
May the 21 Days of mourning give each disitrict a centre where they can sign to offer service to those in need… It is time to…
Ba pf please try to save the little resources if at all there is any for the country.Kk would not have loved to transport his remains around the country..please…lets mourn the hero but not by taking him around. You must listen when people talk
I agree with MMD for once. Why not channel the resources to the Kaunda’s elderly Orphans. They don’t seem financially sound! I may be wrong.
There are so many comments that comes out from different people with different options but I want to ask, what if there was an agreement between kk family and the GRZ? What if the family requested the Government to do it? And what if the Government has had considered the risks and have worked around them? What if there’s no body and only the empty coffin is being represented in all towns? Please you should see the running Government has a think house with them doing what is best for the all nation and not for an individual or a group.