Stop Weeping Over Lungu’s Body, Mr. President

By Kapya Kaoma

They say power reveals a man—and death unmasks him. Right now, President Hakainde Hichilema’s fixation on Edgar Chagwa Lungu’s corpse is unmasking him as petty, desperate, and dangerously small for the office he holds.

Why, Mr. President, do you seem so frantic to lay claim to your late rival’s body? The more you wrangle over Lungu’s remains, the smaller you look in the eyes of a weary and disillusioned nation.

We are Africans, and our beliefs about death run deep. One cannot help but wonder: are you haunted by Lungu’s ghost? Do you seek “ukumulalika” by laying eyes on his cold body?

You ought to be above this. But where were you when your own Vice President warned the opposition in Parliament: “Do not let someone defeated in life be defeated in death”? Is this the wisdom guiding your administration on such a sacred matter?

Threats have failed. So did the Insults. Then you declared the mourning period closed—only to rush to a foreign court at the eleventh hour. What does that say about your judgment? You may hold power over the living, Mr. President, but not over the dead. Our families do. And it is too late now–pleading for the corpse will win you no political sympathy.

Your government’s reckless handling of Lungu’s death has been telling. You hurled insults without restraint, yet expect his grieving family to trust your demands? Why should they? Your long record of contempt for Lungu speaks louder than any last-minute appeals to “tradition” or “protocol.”

Every time you speak of Lungu’s remains, you shrink further in stature. Zambia is not Nigeria; Lungu is not Buhari. He died a diminished figure. To claim you now revere “our national tradition” in death while spurning it in life reeks of hypocrisy.

If you were serious about reconciliation, you would have boarded a plane to South Africa and faced the Lungu family directly. But perhaps you know, deep down, that this crisis is of your own making. This isn’t pride—it’s shame at work, Mr. President.

Enough. Stop weeping over Lungu’s body. Start leading the living. Zambians have moved on. So must you.

Politics aside, how can you negotiate with a grieving family while dragging them through the mud—nullifying Tasila Lungu’s parliamentary seat, prosecuting their allies, and fanning public anger? You can’t seek compromise while holding a hammer over their heads. Even in politics, there is a line where strategy ends and basic decency begins.

Yes, you crave victory. But at what cost? The more you claw at this fight, the more haunted and desperate you appear. You are not the last President to rule Zambia. If Zambians wish for Lungu’s body to return someday, they will do so under another President. This is not your fight to win.

Please let it go. History will never remember the man who won control of a corpse. It will remember the one who demeaned himself chasing it.