Lusaka, 17 March, 2022 / 9:15 pm (ACI Africa).
Members of the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) have eulogized the country’s fourth President, Rupiah Bwezani Banda, as a humble statesman who realized “humble, exemplary and generous service to the people” in the Southern Africa nation.
Mr. Banda died on March 11 at his home in Lusaka at the age of 85, after a battle with colon cancer, Reuters reported.
“On behalf of the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) and the entire Catholic Community in Zambia, I write to convey our most sincere and heartfelt condolences to you, his family and the entire nation, on the demise of the fourth Republican President of Zambia, Mr. Rupiah Bwezani Banda, who died on Friday, 11 March 2022 at his residence in Makeni,” ZCCB President, Archbishop Ignatius Chama says in a condolence message circulated Wednesday, March 16.
In the message addressed to President Hakainde Hichilema, Archbishop Chama adds, “God allowed the late former President to do his share of humble, exemplary and generous service to the people of Zambia especially his last task of helping in the peaceful transition of power from your predecessor, after the general elections held on 12 August 2021.”
“May his soul be freed from the burden and slavery of sin to rest in the peace of the risen Lord,” the Local Ordinary of Zambia’s Kasama Archdiocese implores in the message dated Monday, March 14.
