President Edgar Lungu yesterday led hundreds of mourners at Cathedral of the Child Jesus in putting to rest Zambia’s former vice president Lupando Mwape.

President Lungu described Mwape as a man of integrity who believed in doing the right thing all the time.

Addressing mourners during a requiem mass, President Lungu says Mwape was driven by the desire to serve the nation and not personal gain.

“He was a man of integrity who believed in doing the right thing all the time. He was driven by the desire to serve the nation and not personal gain. he had respect for everyone regardless of their social standing in society,” President Lungu said.

He said the Patriotic Front government benefited from Mwape’s efforts of facilitating for traditional leaders to work more closely with government.

“He was a great man. He had an approachable persona which made it easy for people to interact freely with him. He equally had great capability to resolve conflicts and one remarkable achievement as a result of these attributes was the role he played in bringing our country’s traditional leaders to work more closely with the government. Really, the PF government are benefiting from the efforts of his great man,” said President Lungu.

Meanwhile, family representative Dr Antony Musonda said the family had lost a great man.

“We have lost a great man. A man who loved his family. A man who was there for each and every family person whenever we needed him. As a family, we shall greatly miss him. Our great man loved this nation so much and he always spoke good about this Country. Once again, we shall
greatly miss him,” said Dr Musonda.

Among the people that attended the funeral service were UPND president Hakainde Hichilema and his vice Geoffrey Mwamba, Rainbow Party leader Wynter Kabimba, two MMD faction leaders Felix Mutati and Nevers Mumba and NDC deputy secretary general Bridget Atanga.