By Blessings Makuwira:
At 03:11pm Thursday, funeral service company workers started lowering the casket carrying the remains of musician, human rights activist, politician and presidential adviser on youths and arts Lucius ‘Soldier’ Banda into his final resting place in Sosola Village, Traditional Authority Msamala, Balaka District.
It was the moment the truth sank home to President Lazarus Chakwera, First Lady Monica, Vice President Michael Usi, Lucius’ widow Sunganani, children, UTM secretary general Patricia Kaliati— among others who were there to give Soldier a fitting farewell—that the man who had counselled the nation through music since 1983 was not coming back home.
Banda, who once served as parliamentarian for the area he now lives under, died in South Africa on Sunday.
He was getting treated for a kidney-related problem.
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Activities in the Sosola Village graveyard were the culmination of events of the day, which started with face viewing and, then, a funeral service at Balaka Stadium, where Archbishop Desmond George Tambala of Lilongwe Archdiocese led fellow members of the clergy in a requiem mass.
Chakwera, shock struck and visibly lost for words, delegated Local Government and Rural Development Minister Richard Chimwendo Banda to speak for him.
Chimwendo Banda described Banda’s death as a national loss.
He was quick to say Banda’s life has to be remembered and celebrated in equal measure.
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“He was a hard worker; soldier of the poor,” he said.
The minister added that Banda played a key role in the launch of the National Youth Service, which Chakwera launched in his bid to entrench the spirit of patriotism in youths.
He added that the fallen musician contributed to plans to re-energise National Economic Empowerment Fund Limited so that it could capacitate more youths in the country.
On his part, Banda’s son Johnnie described the departed father as a man full of love.
“Our father was our adviser in every situation. He was a caring person and loved us dearly,” Johnnie, who indicated that their father discouraged the children from crying, said.
Taking her turn, Kaliati described Banda’s death as a party [UTM] and national loss.
“He played an active role in party affairs. He was our chief campaigner, one who never got tired of attracting people to the party,” Kaliati said.
At the burial ceremony, Chakwera, the First Lady, Sunganani and children, Lucius’ elder brother Paul, Tambala and other members of the clergy, former president Joyce Banda, Kaliati, United Democratic Front former president Atupele Muluzi, among others, laid wreaths.
