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DEFENSE RESTS:

PRESIDENT MWANAWASA LAID TO REST

Tribute to Zambia’s president

by Maidstone Mulenga in Rochester, NY

Your Excellencies, members of the Zambian family: The defense rests.

When President Levi Mwanawasa is laid to rest today, Sept. 3, 2008, a huge part of the Zambia’s legal heritage will be buried with him.

Mwanawasa who died Aug. 19, 2008, after suffering a stroke two months earlier, will go down in history as the first Zambian president to die in office.

He will surely be remembered as the first Zambian to have served as vice president as well as president. His days as vice president during Frederick Chiluba’s presidency will also go down in history for the remarkable way he recovered from a near fatal road accident. (By the way, how does a vice president get that seriously injured in a road accident? But I digress)

President Mwanawasa no doubt has earned a permanent place in history among the muckrakers by targeting corruption in both his own government and that of the previous government.

He also took time to preserve the Zambian history by formally recognizing the pioneers that fought for the independence of Zambia, including honoring the first president, Kenneth Kaunda, and Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe, who was perhaps one of the greatest political leaders this country has seen.

Yet to me, I will always remember Levi Mwanawasa for his legal mind. While he also served solicitor-general, his greatest accomplishment from a legal point was when he defended the rights of individuals.

Who else but Levi Mwanawasa would convince judges appointed by Kaunda to release people detained by Kaunda? Who else but Levi Mwanawasa would successfully challenge the presidential powers used by Kaunda to detain union leaders and small-businessmen? Who else but Levi Mwanawasa would turn a sure conviction into an acquittal?

“Your honor, the defense rests.” When he said those magical words in the courtrooms throughout Zambia, you knew he had put up a great defense for his clients.

That is the type of fight he had put up for Zambia during his reign as a president. So, today as he is being laid to rest on what would have been his 60th birthday, we can be assured as Zambians that Levi Mwanawasa did everything possible to make ours a better country. After all, he died on the job, working for Zambia and Africa.

Your excellences and the people of Zambia: The defense rests. May he rest in eternal peace.

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