Address nation about Lungu postmortem – Sinkamba
By Charles Musonda
PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema must address the nation on the clandestine postmortem conducted on former president Edgar Lungu, Green Party (GP) president Peter Sinkamba has demanded.
And a Catholic priest Father Gladston Phiri says government must allow the family to bury Lungu the way they want to end the controversy.
Sinkamba said Hichilema should tell the nation whether his government sanctioned it.
He said it was right now that Hichilema address the nation over the revelations that his government carried out an illegal postmortem on Lungu’s body 10 months after his death in South Africa.
“…because the body of the person that was dissected is of the immediate past president. Therefore, because of the sensitivity of the issue and the dignity of the person we are talking about, it is imperative that the President must address the nation,” Sinkamba said.
He said Hichilema should take interest in what happened with the body of his predecessor.
Sinkamba said the silence from State House was disturbing and confusing.
“In English people say ‘silence is consent’. People will make conclusions and whatever conclusions that people make will be justified if the President fails to give a correct position. Speculations arise if there is opaqueness in the management of information,” he said.
Sinkamba said it was not possible for government officers to carry out an operation of that nature without the President’s consent.
He said it was reasonably important for Hichilema to give a clear position on the conduct of the officers who carried out the operation, which many believed to be clandestine.
“The President needs to come out in the open and clear the air because if he does not gather courage and address the nation, people will conclude that he is guilty of whatever they are saying,” Sinkamba said.
“So, the best way to counter that is to be courageous and address the nation and tell the side of his story. There is a lot of speculation when you carry out the post-mortem and you don’t allow witnesses to be there to ensure that nothing is collected from the dead person and that everything is done properly.”
He said whatever attempt to defuse the serious nature of the operation conducted by the government was aimed at shielding the President because of the ramification.
“I can assure you that it is just a matter of time. Heads will roll. For now things may look like they are just a by-the-way thing, but the truth will come out one day. They can sit on the truth for now, but one day it will come out,” Sinkamba said.
And a Catholic priest Father Gladston Phiri says government must allow the family to bury Lungu the way they want to end the controversy.
“My call is for the government just to allow the family go on with their wishes and not the standoff currently going on,” Fr Phiri said.
He said the issue was tricky because some people were trying to use the law to hide their intentions, as it was obvious that they had ulterior motives.
New Democratic Congress (NDC) president Saboi Imboela said the matter involving Lungu’s body was too big for Hichilema to delegate to any of his subordinates.
“I am very appalled, very shocked, very heart-broken. And for me the call to have the President address the nation on this matter is the way to go. I would like to see the President address us. If we are feeling like this, I can only imagine how the family is feeling. The way I felt when I heard the news of him dying is the same way I am feeling. So the President should come out because right now, as Zambians, we are very hurt,” Imboela said.
