The loss of the Sixth Republican President Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu has hit every person in Zambia. The United Liberal Party, of which I am president, has already put out a message of condolences to the bereaved family, party and nation.
This piece is not a formal but individual reflection on someone I had a very long and personal relationship. It is recollections of some of the interactions I had with the dearly departed Edgar Chagwa Lungu .
THE BEGINNING OF THE WALK WITH EDGAR
I first came across sixth Republican President Edgar Chagwa Lungu in 1982 when he was still commonly called, “Edgar”.
To the end of his life I would refer to him as “Edgar” whenever we were alone or with his wife Esther. When in public or formally addressing him I would refer to him as “Your Excellency” or “Mr. President”. This is how comfortable we were with each other and how I recognized that my private relationship should only be shown when only in his presence or that of his wife.
His accepting me to call him Edgar in private also shows that the title of President did not go to his head and he realized that it is not the title but how you interact with people that makes you what you are.
Riches and fame cannot surpass a good soul. What he had in abundance was a good soul.
I first got acquainted with Edgar in 1982 when he was a learner Legal Practitioner at the Law Practice Institute and I was lecturing at the National Institute of Public Administration.
He was jovial and easy going making it easy for him to strike up friendships. What was also clear was that he had a very sharp mind.
When he was in the legal department of ZCCM and I was with then Chilanga and Company he would let us have some legal instructions from the mining conglomerate.
When he was contemplating stopping being in house counsel and going into private practice he asked me what I thought as I had been in private practice since 1983. I encouraged him to take the plunge which he did and joined Andrea Masiye and Co.
In 1995 I went with Edgar and also Late a Josephine Nyirongo, the then Treasurer of the Law Association of Zambia, on a seven week program in six different States in the USA to work in various different types of State legal aid systems. Edgar was a stand out participant during our tour. Edgar was already my friend but that seven weeks of close daily (and nightly) interaction cemented our bond even further.
In 1996 Edgar asked me to help him campaign in the Chawama Constituency election where he stood as an independent candidate. I donated a very modest sum to his campaign and once or twice actually went out on the stomp with him in Chawama.
Edgar therefore gave me my first taste of politics by inviting me to be part of his campaign. It was also his first. It was an impressive baptism as he came in second to soon to become Vice President Christon Tembo.
This result was impressive when you took into account that he was the only independent in a field of five candidates where all his opponents were sponsored by political parties.
He managed to get 20% of the vote compared to Christon Tembo’s 55% because of how he easily interacted with the constituents. As one of his foot soldiers i observed how he walked through Chawama casually chatting with the voters he came across.
After this I got the feel for active politics and got involved in the formation of the United Party For National Development (UPND) in 1998. I was the UPND’s first Legal Chairman. I called upon Edgar and invited him to be in the legal subcommittee of UPND that I formed. He therefore agreed to be a committee member in the committee his Chawama campaign foot soldier (Saki) chaired.
As we went towards the 2001 election the elections committee of UPND decided to adopt someone else as the candidate despite of the work Edgar had done in Chawama. Edgar at the last minute stood as an independent but did not do as expected due to his late entry into the race.
After the Gabon football disaster I got instructions to represent the families of the fallen football heroes. It was a large number of people to deal with. I asked if he would be interested to take on the case together with me and he accepted.
I am glad he accepted because any lawyer will tell you that class action suits are the hardest to manage and run. His people and communication skills came in very handy to a very volatile set of clients. The majority were fine but the very vocal minority needed the tact and skill of Edgar to manage.
There would be immense drama and Edgar would manage to handle the unruly ones amongst them. One day a small number of the group brought a small coffin and left it at our offices.
Edgar said we could turn this spiteful act into a source of relief for someone. Edgar learnt of an indigent family who had lost a child and suggested we donate it to them. We did and this simple act by Edgar eased the burden for a grieving family. Edgar took ‘making lemonade out of lemons’ to a brand new higher level.
We were both operating from the city centre which was increasingly not conducive to business as parking was a headache and petty crime was spiraling. I decided to seek offices out of town and found flats at Addis Ababa Drive around about that were being sold.
I invited Edgar and four other law firms to join me in acquiring the property and moving out of Cairo Road. We formed a special vehicle company to acquire the building and have punctured the myth thatZambians cannot work in partnership together. Mr. Masiye, Speaker Nellie Mutti, Sixth Republican President and myself have been together for over years.
Clearly Edgar was someone willing to work with others. When he went into government and thought he would not have enough time to attend to the property company we formed, Edgar gave me power of attorney limited to the affairs of the property.
Over the years he was comfortable to just receive reports as to what was happening in the company. This showed he had faith in humanity and did not feel only he had the answers.
When I lost my father Edgar dealt with the settlement of dads estate as he was already known by my father and my siblings. He provided the legal service on the basis of being practically family.
In the 2016 Petition Edgar asked me to be in his legal team because we had worked together on different cases over the ages and he was comfortable that he would get commitment and professionalism. What was good about working for him as his lawyers is that although he was a very intelligent lawyer (who graduated with a merit from UNZA) he did not pretend to be a know it all but, he listened to his lawyers advise.
When the Dan Pule and three others eligibility case was commenced Edgar felt comfortable to give me instructions to be in his legal team for the same.
Inspite of Edgar being head of State at the time of the case, it was clear that he did not put any pressure on the judges presiding on the case as he genuinely did not know in what direction they would rule.
UKA was an idea centered on bringing like minded opposition parties to work together. From the time Edgar came back into active politics he made this his passionate dedication and desire. He therefore linked up with Chishala Kateka and late Edith Nawakwi who were of a similar view and desire.
Chishala and Late Edith had both separately discussed the idea of opposition unity but did not let out that Edgar was part of the scheme. Infact when Chishala first approached me in March 2022 Edgar was in retirement and had not come back to active politics.
The first formal meeting when the original UKA members met was at late Edith Nawakwi’s residence. Edgar, although acknowledged by all of us as being of a different status to us insisted that we feel free to interact with him without holding back simply because he was a former President.
Some took this to be open liscence and we had a constant struggle to try to keep some in proper line. Edgar was willing to give us room to try and counsel and guide some of our colleagues.
Edgar initially showed tolerance towards some who spoke out of turn and allowed us to try and counsel them. Edgar was very accommodating and tolerant but at some stage he felt he could no longer take what he referred to as “the little girl”. We tried our best to counsel the”little girl” but this proved very difficult. On this task I must admit that I failed Edgar on the mission of mellowing certain characters; not from lack of trying but because of dealing with one or two very complex characters.
The day before Edgar left for South Africa I had agreed with him that we would meet to discuss the happenings in PF, TONSE and UKA. He told me he would be going to the airport for a flight to South Africa to try and get some treatment. What is striking is that he said to me, “I know the State will not allow me to board the plane and leave as they always do, so I will drop in to see you on my way back from the airport after they turn me back.
Edgar thought they would scuttle his trip out for his medical as they always did but, his team managed to outsmart the State machinery and he slipped out of the country. It was however too late for the doctors to do a full remedial job to restore his health.
This was the last interaction I had in the walk with Edgar my friend, professional colleague, co counsel, lawyer, client, family friend, candidate I was foot soldier for, business partner, principal who gave me Power of Attorney, recruit into UPND, committee member in my sub committee, the person who nominated me to chair the UKA project, advisor; but most of all MY PRESIDENT.
In the end it is inescapable that, as Edgar leaves me and all of us and walks away to our Lord in Heaven, Edgar is still PRESIDENT.
MAY HIS EXCELLENCY DR. EDGAR CHAGWA LUNGU FINALLY BE ALLOWED TO REST IN PEACE
