By NATION REPORTER
PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema should make a personal commitment to the family of late former President Edgar Lungu that he shall not preside over the funeral of his predecessor nor be anywhere near his remains before burial could take place because there is a danger that the head of State would easily walk away from the promise after the burial of the former head of State, Given Lubinda has said.
And Mr Lubinda, the Patriotic Front (PF) acting president has said late former President Lungu was a strong believer in democracy and an ardent proponent of the rule of law, who wanted Zambia to be a better country than he found it, Given Lubinda has said.
“Democracy was dear to ECL. He respected the rule of law and wanted fair political competition but what we are seeing in the UPND is glaring hypocrisy,” Mr Lubinda said.
Mr Lubinda, who is also the Tonse Alliance acting chairperson said former President Lungu handed over power willingly under an extremely hostile environment where he was booed by those who had voted for UPND.
“What President Hichilema was saying that he regrets having abused and exposed the family of the late former President Lungu to the country, the region and the world is merely a public relations stunt and nothing else. He was speaking from a position of insecurity,” he said.
Mr Lubinda urged the head of State to let go of the desire to president over the funeral and burial of former President Lungu, especially that it was the wish of the former head of State that his successor should never be anywhere near his mortal remains.
“Walk out of this matter and allow the family to bury their beloved one. The country has needs to get back to normalcy as President Hichilema himself said,” Mr Lubinda said.
Mr Lubinda, who is former Minister of Justice said for President Hichilema to be sad and express regret over the abuse and harassment the family of late President Lungu had been subjected to at the hands of the UPND government and party leadership, it meant the whole country was deeply saddened.
And Mr Lubinda has stated that Government has a ploy of transposing people from one village to another in Northern Province as part of the larger scheme to tamper with next year’s general election
“Don’t kill the messenger. Those who went on social media to expose the errors were not wrong. And so, Mr Jack Mwiimbu, the Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security and consequently in charge of national registration should actually thank those people who exposed the rot,” he said.
Mr Lubinda has since challenged the Auditor General’s Office and the Zambia Statistic Office to do a thorough audit on the defective NRCs.
