{"id":82201,"date":"2026-04-06T18:38:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T18:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/mmembe-urges-resolution-in-lungu-burial-dispute"},"modified":"2026-04-06T18:44:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T18:44:41","slug":"mmembe-urges-resolution-in-lungu-burial-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/mmembe-urges-resolution-in-lungu-burial-dispute","title":{"rendered":"M&#8217;membe Urges Resolution in Lungu Burial Dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>Socialist Party leader Fred M\u2019membe has renewed pressure on government to resolve the prolonged impasse surrounding the burial of former President Edgar Chagwa Lungu, describing the situation as a moral and national failure.<\/p>\n<p>In a strongly worded statement issued on Easter Sunday, Dr M\u2019membe expressed concern that nearly ten months after his death, the former Head of State remains in the mortuary, questioning both the country\u2019s values and leadership response. He framed the issue not just as political, but as deeply human and cultural, calling for compassion and dignity in handling the matter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat kind of a country have we become?\u201d he asked, adding that Zambia\u2019s identity as a Christian nation is being tested by its inability to resolve the burial in a \u201ccompassionate and reasonable way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dr M\u2019membe urged President Hakainde Hichilema and his administration to allow the family to proceed with burial arrangements in line with the late president\u2019s wishes. He emphasized that the appeal is grounded in \u201clove for this country, humanity and the Lungu family,\u201d rather than political contestation.<\/p>\n<p>The remarks come amid continued silence or unresolved positions from key stakeholders, with the burial of the former president increasingly becoming a sensitive national issue that intersects law, tradition, family wishes and state protocol.<\/p>\n<p>Dr M\u2019membe concluded with a direct appeal for closure, stating that the nation must allow the former president\u2019s \u201cspirit to rest in peace,\u201d signalling growing public and political pressure for resolution.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Zambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. Socialist Party leader Fred M\u2019membe has renewed pressure on government to resolve the prolonged impasse surrounding the burial of former President Edgar Chagwa Lungu, describing the situation as a moral and national failure. In a strongly worded statement issued on Easter Sunday, Dr M\u2019membe expressed concern that nearly ten months after his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":82200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-82201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","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>M&#039;membe Urges Resolution in Lungu Burial Dispute - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Socialist Party leader Fred M\u2019membe has renewed pressure on government to resolve the prolonged impasse surrounding the ...\" \/>\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\/mmembe-urges-resolution-in-lungu-burial-dispute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"M&#039;membe Urges Resolution in Lungu Burial Dispute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Socialist Party leader Fred M\u2019membe has renewed pressure on government to resolve the prolonged impasse surrounding the ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/mmembe-urges-resolution-in-lungu-burial-dispute\" \/>\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=\"2026-04-06T18:38:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-06T18:44:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1775500997.421002.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\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=\"2 minutes\" \/>\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\/mmembe-urges-resolution-in-lungu-burial-dispute#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/mmembe-urges-resolution-in-lungu-burial-dispute\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"M&#8217;membe Urges Resolution in Lungu Burial Dispute\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-06T18:38:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-06T18:44:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/mmembe-urges-resolution-in-lungu-burial-dispute\"},\"wordCount\":266,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/mmembe-urges-resolution-in-lungu-burial-dispute#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1775500997.421002.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/mmembe-urges-resolution-in-lungu-burial-dispute#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/mmembe-urges-resolution-in-lungu-burial-dispute\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/mmembe-urges-resolution-in-lungu-burial-dispute\",\"name\":\"M'membe Urges Resolution in Lungu Burial Dispute - 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