ZAMBIA: Row over KK’s burial escalates

By: Ollus Ndomu

Some children of Zambia’s late first President Kenneth Kaunda fondly called KK, have challenged in court the government’s decision to have their father buried at the Embassy Park national site in Lusaka.

Kaunda who until his death on June 17, at Maina Soko military hospital, was Africa’s last surviving independence titan, served as his country as president from 1964 to 1991.

In its Monday evening statement, the Zambian government maintained that the late founding president would be laid to rest at the Embassy Park where three of the country’s past presidents have been buried.

However, some of Kaunda’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have asked a Lusaka court to allow them to bury the former leader where his wife, Mama Betty Mutinkhe Kaunda has been laid to rest. They argue this would be according to their family patriarchy’s last wish

While the number of family members supporting this position remains unclear, the Zambian government is preparing to lay KK to rest tomorrow, July 7, at the presidential burial site in the capital Lusaka.

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Ollus Ndhomu

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