WHEN SATA DIED, 28th October 2014

ODE TO THE COBRA, President Michael Chilufya Sata of Zambia

As Zambians and a people, we must understand that we are fallible and fragile beings. We build great hopes and only to be visited by the Angel of misfortune. We enter into the darkness of depression when we cannot see hope. However, we, must between periods of digging in the dark like pangolins, endeavor always to transform our tears into knowledge. President Michael Chilufya Sata, is no more. In six years, Zambia has faced darkness through a loss of national statesmen, Mwanawasa, Chiluba and now Sata. Many other lives have expired during this period including yesterday that are worthy of our grief and memory. But the loss of a leader raises the tragedy above his immediate family. He or she is no longer a loss for one family but part of a vast body of human beings, friends and foes, whose own mortality, that loss enacts. Death is not a power game. It is a grieving moment. Those whose hopes MC Sata carried in 2011 were many. These would not be allowed to cry alone. Those who were foes, or betrayed his trust, cannot feel the guilt alone. For Sata to ascend to power required the implicit connivance of those who did not want him to be President. We are all losers. But let us dig collectively and singularly in the darkness of grieving to find our answers. The King Cobra is gone. No one has its venom the same way. Let us pray that we do not allow the blind egoism of the few to plunge the many into excruciating misery. Zambia is a country with a living constitution and many learned minds. We have been through this road somehow before even when the terrain is slightly rougher. The PF, as a ruling Party needs time out to reflect and share with the country, their intimate understanding of their loss of a Party leader. As earlier noted, they are not carrying the burden alone. For me, the Cobra was a teacher in lessons, only I understand personally. He never taught me anything which he himself was not willing to practice. To the Nation, Zambia is a plateau of peace because we always resist the tempters and focus on our sovereign unity and peace. We forgive mistakes. We try to rebuild from the ashes as the Gabon Disaster taught us. Let us understand political practice is creative, visionary and anticipatory. We celebrated our golden jubilee, only yesterday. Can we remember the word “freedom”! Let us remember this word in our grief and in our dialogue about tomorrow. To auntie Christine, you will not cry alone as a family. The King Cobra, I knew you well, I really did. You even took the trip to visit my father as Minister of Health and shared the freedom song. He too expired last year. We, who remain, must cross ” the threshold of Hope” and dig even deeper into our conscience for new knowledge.

KK