Zambians, the former President of Botswana Festus Mogae died last week, today he was buried. In our country, our former President died 11 months ago – he is not yet buried because we continue to do politics even in the face of death. We havee refused to set aside all the petty politics that usually divides us in order to burry a man who once served our country. We have failed to find the path of peace, its just been insults and blame games. This one blames that one, this one insults the other one. The nation of Kenneth Kaunda, once respected across SADC, is now a subject of worry because we have failed to find political common ground as a people.
In the months since President Lungu died 11 months ago, Kenya lost its former Prime Minister Raila and they buried 3 days after. Then Nigeria lost its former President and they burried him 3 days later. The Passing of Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga in October and how Kenyans from the ruling party and opposition conducted themselves in grief must shame the consciousness of us all in Zambian politics. We are just finger pointing according to which political party one supports. This is a man who once led the Zambian security and defence forces and for that, he needs to be given the respects he so rightly deserves.
But in Zambia, even death has failed to bring both our political divides together. Instead we still call each other names, exchange insults over who is wrong and what not in burrying a man who once led our country. It doesn’t matter whether you belong to any political party, the passing of former President Lungu and how we have handled his death, messed our moral standing as a country – we must all be deeply and politically ashamed of ourselves as Zambians. If we can’t come together and be united in grief and death, Zambians will never be taken serious in continental politics like we did in the Frontline States. In the Frontline States of the 60s, Zambia earned the respects of the continent. When SADC needed a voice, the looked up to Zambia to provide that leadership and we did.
But now for decades, our country has become too politically toxic – we never view politics from a national interest point of view , instead we view the success of our country based on party affiliations we belong to. We are the only country in Africa that even in death, we fight each other and even strip our own founding President of 27 years off his Zambian citizenship and accuse him of being a foreigner in Zambia. More than 30 years since that treatment of Kenneth Kaunda, we have drawn and learnt zero lessons from those experiences of our political past as a country.
Infact we only found new ways of being politically toxic to each other, now we don’t strip each other of citizenship, we just drag each other to court over issues we can resolve man to man, Zambian to Zambian in days. As per our national norms, when one of us dies in our Zambian families, nothing else matters. We all come together, sit around a fire and speak stories of hope and unity. Folks travel kilometres from all corners of our country just to go sleep around a fire at the funeral house and share stories until sunrise. That’s us, thats our Zambian culture thats united our country in death for decades. But such doesn’t exist in our Zambian politics no more.
Traditionally in our country, two things have always united us – football and death. Death has now failed, football remains the only option – but it too has never united us since that 12th February 2012 night in Gabon.
Nothing remains to unite this nation we so love anymore. The upcoming generation, myself included, must break this vicious and toxic political chain. Death knows nobody, it respects no President. Anyone of us can be struck anyday. Its then our collective duty to set aside our politics when death strikes and put each other to rest with the very highest political respects.
I remain,
Joseph Kalimbwe
Aspiring Member of Parliament
Dag Hammarskjold, Ndola
16th May 2026