Africa-Press – Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>This morning, I appeared before the Parliamentary Committee (Cabinet Affairs) to present my submission on the \u201cBenefits of Former Presidents and Former Vice Presidents Bill Number 5 of 2026\u201d. Coincidentally, the nation is currently dealing with the impasse over the burial of our former President. So, that was my first take as I made the following 10 points<\/p>\n1. The Bill takes about former Presidents are entitled to funeral benefits but the same shall be prescribed. I told parliament that we should not shy away from this topic and actually provide is required from both State and family in such funerals. We have practical lessons to use to draft legislation to avoid such happening in future.<\/p>\n
2. I suggested that the retirement houses of former Presidents should be state residences owned by the State like is the case in Botswana. They cannot be sold, rented or mortgaged by them, or their spouse, or indeed their children.<\/p>\n
3. We need to be clear on how to deal with President who are polygamists. We should be indicate what the entitlement will be for each widow as the case maybe. I also indicated that the law should also state what happens with President who dies without spouse or children. Who inherits?<\/p>\n
4. The Bill says the former President should be given 3 state security. I suggested that 3 should be minimum and the rest left to the police to determine the number on the security threats and assessments. Three maybe adequate or may not be depending on the circumstances.<\/p>\n
5. The Bill says former Vice Presidents who served from 2016 should be entitled to houses. My take is that this should clearly state that only those elected as running-mates are entitled to houses as they were elected by the people..<\/p>\n
6. The definition of Vice President must be revisited and be clear. To say whoever served in the equivalent position may bring confusion. For example, is former Prime Minister equivalent to vice President? Or UNIP Secretary General who was de facto number two? What about Minister Without portfolio? Clarity must be provided.<\/p>\n
7. Spouses who served for the entire term as First Ladies or Gentlemen must be considered in someway. It is preposterous to see a former First Lady walking the streets because she was divorced after leaving State House. The dignity of mother of the nation needs to consideration.<\/p>\n
8. I agreed that the salary arrears for former Vice Presidents or those who served in the equivalent position should not be backdated. Their paycheck should start once this Bill is passed into law.<\/p>\n
9. I didn\u2019t make any comment on whether former Presidents or Vice Presidents should lose their benefits once they rejoin politics. I left this to the Committee to do a comparison study with other jurisdictions.<\/p>\n
10. As by the way, I believe we should probably be talking about Presidential Libraries where we can keep the details and history of these former Presidents. Former President Edgar Lungu has in fact indicated that he was not interested in these retirement houses as they were a drain on coffers but never changed the law.<\/p>\n
I supported the Bill only to the extend that it needs to be beefed and asked the Committee to consider deferring it for more consultation. I suggested that the committee should benchmark South Africa and Botswana on how they treat former Presidents.<\/p>\n
The Committee thanked me for the contribution, noting that it is rare to have an individual take his time off and come to make presentation on behalf of the nation. It is patriotism.<\/p>\n
For More News And Analysis About Zambia<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Dickson Jere Africa-Press – Zambia. This morning, I appeared before the Parliamentary Committee (Cabinet Affairs) to present my submission on the \u201cBenefits of Former Presidents and Former Vice Presidents Bill Number 5 of 2026\u201d. Coincidentally, the nation is currently dealing with the impasse over the burial of our former President. So, that was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":82540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-82542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"\n
Former Presidents' Funeral Benefits by Dickson Jere - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This morning, I appeared before the Parliamentary Committee (Cabinet Affairs) to present my submission on the \u201cBenefits ...\" \/>\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\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Presidents' Funeral Benefits by Dickson Jere\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This morning, I appeared before the Parliamentary Committee (Cabinet Affairs) to present my submission on the \u201cBenefits ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere\" \/>\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=\"2026-04-23T20:41:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-23T20:47:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1776977190.317751.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=\"3 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\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Former Presidents’ Funeral Benefits by Dickson Jere\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-23T20:41:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-23T20:47:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere\"},\"wordCount\":605,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1776977190.317751.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere\",\"name\":\"Former Presidents' Funeral Benefits by Dickson Jere - Zambia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1776977190.317751.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-23T20:41:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-23T20:47:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"This morning, I appeared before the Parliamentary Committee (Cabinet Affairs) to present my submission on the \u201cBenefits ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1776977190.317751.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1776977190.317751.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Former Presidents' Funeral Benefits by Dickson Jere\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Former Presidents’ Funeral Benefits by Dickson Jere\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/\",\"name\":\"Zambia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Former Presidents' Funeral Benefits by Dickson Jere - Zambia","description":"This morning, I appeared before the Parliamentary Committee (Cabinet Affairs) to present my submission on the \u201cBenefits ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Former Presidents' Funeral Benefits by Dickson Jere","og_description":"This morning, I appeared before the Parliamentary Committee (Cabinet Affairs) to present my submission on the \u201cBenefits ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere","og_site_name":"Zambia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2026-04-23T20:41:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-23T20:47:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1776977190.317751.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Former Presidents’ Funeral Benefits by Dickson Jere","datePublished":"2026-04-23T20:41:19+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-23T20:47:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere"},"wordCount":605,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1776977190.317751.jpg","keywords":["Zambia"],"articleSection":["all news","files"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere","name":"Former Presidents' Funeral Benefits by Dickson Jere - Zambia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1776977190.317751.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-23T20:41:19+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-23T20:47:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"This morning, I appeared before the Parliamentary Committee (Cabinet Affairs) to present my submission on the \u201cBenefits ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1776977190.317751.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1776977190.317751.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Former Presidents' Funeral Benefits by Dickson Jere"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/former-presidents-funeral-benefits-by-dickson-jere#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Former Presidents’ Funeral Benefits by Dickson Jere"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/","name":"Zambia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82542"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82546,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82542\/revisions\/82546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}