{"id":74014,"date":"2025-06-25T11:51:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T11:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/president-hichilema-describes-edgar-lungu-as-a-national-asset-and-hopes-he-will-be-buried-in-zambia-the-zambian-observer"},"modified":"2025-06-25T11:51:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T11:51:00","slug":"president-hichilema-describes-edgar-lungu-as-a-national-asset-and-hopes-he-will-be-buried-in-zambia-the-zambian-observer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/president-hichilema-describes-edgar-lungu-as-a-national-asset-and-hopes-he-will-be-buried-in-zambia-the-zambian-observer","title":{"rendered":"PRESIDENT HICHILEMA DESCRIBES EDGAR LUNGU AS A NATIONAL ASSET AND HOPES HE WILL BE BURIED IN ZAMBIA &#8211; The Zambian Observer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>President Hakainde Hichilema has acknowledged that the late sixth republican president Edgar Chagwa Lungu is the only Zambian former head of state to pass away while still holding presidential immunity.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking during a courtesy call from three church mother bodies, President Hichilema expressed hope that the late president\u2019s remains will be laid to rest in Zambia, highlighting Mr. Lungu\u2019s service at the highest level of national leadership and describing him as a national asset.<\/p>\n<p>The president encouraged respectful dialogue and understanding, adding that any concerns related to the burial should be addressed after the funeral in the interest of unity.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing public concerns over ongoing constitutional reforms, President Hichilema clarified that the constitutional review process is aimed at strengthening democracy and was never intended to cause division.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia Bishop Andrew Mwenda, speaking on behalf of the church mother bodies, said the church is not against constitutional amendments, but emphasized the need for a broad-based and inclusive approach.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\">Zambia<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. President Hakainde Hichilema has acknowledged that the late sixth republican president Edgar Chagwa Lungu is the only Zambian former head of state to pass away while still holding presidential immunity. Speaking during a courtesy call from three church mother bodies, President Hichilema expressed hope that the late president\u2019s remains will be laid [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":74013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12,248],"tags":[234,235,233],"class_list":["post-74014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-to-homepage","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zambia","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>PRESIDENT HICHILEMA DESCRIBES EDGAR LUNGU AS A NATIONAL ASSET AND HOPES HE WILL BE BURIED IN ZAMBIA - The Zambian Observer - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/president-hichilema-describes-edgar-lungu-as-a-national-asset-and-hopes-he-will-be-buried-in-zambia-the-zambian-observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PRESIDENT HICHILEMA DESCRIBES EDGAR LUNGU AS A NATIONAL ASSET AND HOPES HE WILL BE BURIED IN ZAMBIA - The Zambian Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. President Hakainde Hichilema has acknowledged that the late sixth republican president Edgar Chagwa Lungu is the only Zambian former head of state to pass away while still holding presidential immunity. Speaking during a courtesy call from three church mother bodies, President Hichilema expressed hope that the late president\u2019s remains will be laid [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/president-hichilema-describes-edgar-lungu-as-a-national-asset-and-hopes-he-will-be-buried-in-zambia-the-zambian-observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-25T11:51:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/president-hichilema-describes-edgar-lungu-as-a-national-asset-and-hopes-he-will-be-buried-in-zambia-the-zambian-observer#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/president-hichilema-describes-edgar-lungu-as-a-national-asset-and-hopes-he-will-be-buried-in-zambia-the-zambian-observer\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"PRESIDENT HICHILEMA DESCRIBES EDGAR LUNGU AS A NATIONAL ASSET AND HOPES HE WILL BE BURIED IN ZAMBIA &#8211; 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