The late Edgar Lungu, once the strongman of Zambia, is now a bone of contention between family and state. His corpse, you see, has become a political football. The family won the legal battle to claim his body, and the UK-trained judiciary deserves a round of applause for upholding the rule of law.
But let us not pretend this is a simple tale of justice. This is a story of a nation so fractured by tribal and political loyalties that even the dead cannot rest. The High Court in Lusaka, in its wisdom, decreed that the body belongs to the family, not to the government that sought to give it a state funeral.
And why? Because the rule of law, that fragile flower planted by colonial administrators, still blooms in the red soil of Africa. The judges, products of the Inns of Court, applied the common law with the precision of a surgeon.
The government, in its desperation to claim Lungu’s legacy, was reduced to whining about protocol. But protocol is no match for precedent. This is the triumph of procedure over politics, of order over chaos.
It is a reminder that the British legal tradition, for all its imperial baggage, provides a bulwark against the whims of the mob. The family, led by Lungu’s widow, fought for the right to bury their man in peace. They won.
And if you think this is a petty squabble, you have missed the point. This is about the fragility of democracy in a continent where power is often personal. Zombie Lungu, if you will, is a metaphor for the undead spectre of authoritarianism.
His body may be cold, but the passions he stirred remain hot. The judiciary’s decision is a cold splash of water on those who would misuse the dead for political gain. Let us praise the judges who remembered that the law is not a tool of the state but a shield for the individual.
They are the true heirs of Blackstone and Dicey. The government, meanwhile, should reflect on why it could not let a man die in dignity. In the end, the corpse went to the widow.
Long live the rule of law. And may Lungu rest in peace, though his nation cannot.
