Maravi

Chiluba’s Relatives refuse postmortem

Chiluba’s Relatives refuse postmortem
By Mwala Kalaluka, Chibaula Silwamba, Bright Mukwasa and Salim Dawood

ELDERLY members of the Chiluba family have cautioned the late former president’s children against splitting the family during the mourning period and made it clear that there would be no postmortem. And a senior medical practitioner has said the Coroner must insist that the postmortem is conducted considering that Chiluba was a former head of state.

The family spokesperson, Ben Mwila who was flanked by late Chiluba’s sons Miko and Kaindu and other family elders, said at a press briefing yesterday that the family had resolved, among other things, that no postmortem would be conducted on the late former president.

Family sources said the idea of holding yesterday's press briefing addressed by Mwila, was to to an end the issue of conducting a postmortem to ascertain the cause of Chiluba's death and issue a statement that “no postmortem will be conducted”.

“The children and other family members were counselled that they need to be together and be united during the time of mourning and not cause any split in the family.”

According to other family sources, Chiluba's children were demanding for a postmortem to allay suspicions on what led to the former president's death while some elderly relatives were opposed to it.
The sources said the family and government officials held a meeting on Monday to discuss whether or not they should conduct a postmortem.

Chiluba's children, according to the sources, insisted that the postmortem takes place but that the elderly members of the family argued against conducting the postmortem because they wanted privacy over whatever ailment the former president may have died of.

The sources said Mwila was among the Chiluba family elders that were strongly against the postmortem and defied the children's demands for the same.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the family was still divided on the matter.

But during the press briefing at Lusaka's Belvedere Lodge, which is the house of mourning for the late Chiluba, Mwila, a member of Parliament for Luapula's Nchelenge Constituency, said the postmortem would not be conducted on Chiluba in order to meet his express wishes before he died.

Mwila said Chiluba refused any operation of any kind even at the critical period of his illness.

Mwila said during the family emergency meeting, it was resolved that no postmortem would be conducted on the former head of state.

“The family resolved among other things that no formal request for an autopsy or postmortem will be made. This is primarily to meet the express wishes of Dr Chiluba. It is important to disclose that Dr Chiluba refused operations of any kind at the critical period of his illness,” Mwila said.

“In 2006, he refused doctors’ directives, that to save his life, they needed to offer him a heart transplant. In 2007, a team of UTH doctors recommended that to mitigate the circumstances of his serious heart condition, a Pace-Maker needed to be implanted in him. He turned down this offer. His reasons were based on, among other things, his Christian beliefs.’’

Mwila, a former defence minister in the Chiluba regime, said the family regarded the late Chiluba as a king and that the Lunda tradition forbade any operations of any kind.

“For the above reasons and the known wishes of Dr Chiluba, we will not undertake any activity that ignores or violates his wishes, neither will we do anything that defiles his body,” Mwila said.

He also said it was regrettable that private matters such as the health of Chiluba were unnecessarily thrust in public domain with no regard to the decency and privacy that he was entitled to as a human being.

Mwila thanked the government for the material and moral support it has continued to render to the Chiluba family during the funeral period.

And Mwila said he was saddened by the recent media reports on Chiluba's funeral.

“Members of the press, I just thought we could meet and discuss various issues that are appearing in the media. I am particularly saddened by how today yesterday's paper has gone beyond the allegations of intimidation and violence and now want to split the family into two.’’

But a senior medical practitioner, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media, said in an interview yesterday that the Coroner must insist that the postmortem be conducted considering that the deceased was a former head of state and it would help clear any suspicion.

The medical practitioner said it was not up to the family to decide whether a postmortem was done or not but the sole responsibility of the state through the Coroner.

The expert said after the postmortem, it would be up to the family to get the findings or not and whether to share the same with the public or just keep it within the family.

“The importance of a postmortem is that it puts issues to rest. Failure to do that, you may find that there will be calls to exhume the body to ascertain the cause of death. I hope people will not cry foul in future because these things happen,” said the source.

And earlier in an interview after signing the book of condolences, Zimbabwean defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa said his country would recall the late Chiluba as a patriotic African leader.

“We cherished the support that he gave us during our land reforms. And today we believe that Africa in general is poorer by the death of a visionary leader in Chiluba,” said Mnangagwa.

Meanwhile, the Barotse Royal Establishment's Induna Inete said Chiluba would be remembered for his love for culture.

Human Rights Commission director Enoch Mulembe said the Commission is concerned at the apparent politicisation of Chiluba's death.

Non-Governmental Organisation Coordinating Council NGOCC board chaiperson Beatrice Grillo, urged Zambians to embrace unity as they mourned Chiluba.

By yesterday afternoon, Secretary to the Cabinet Dr Joshua Kanganja held a meeting with members of the Chiluba family at Cabinet Office to discuss how the mourning period would progress.

Labels: FREDERICK CHILUBA, MMD

posted by MrK @ 6:07 PM