PRISCILLA MWILA, CHOMBA MUSIKA ,Lusaka

WITH the lowering of the casket at his final resting place came the final 21-gun salute, final flypast and final military salute to signify the end of an era for a man who personified some of man’s greatest values. Kenneth Kaunda, founding President of Zambia, had his chapter closed at Lusaka’s Embassy Park yesterday, but so was the page of the same book turned and, already, dignitaries started scribbling in it. President Edgar Lungu may already have eulogised him last Friday when he said “the nation you loved loves you back”, but yesterday’s classy act elevated Dr Kaunda, who died on June 17, to near-immortality. April 28 has been declared a public holiday in honour of Dr Kaunda, who led Zambia to independence in 1964 and governed for 27 years. “We are a united people, despite our many tribes, dialects, and heritage, and nothing and nobody should divide us. And that is the way we are going to honour Dr Kaunda’s legacy. To this effect, fellow countrymen, I now declare April 28th, the birthday of His Excellency Dr Kenneth David Kaunda, a national day in his honour,” President Lungu said, to a cheer. Dr Kaunda was last living legendary pan-Africanist of his generation who included Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, Guinea’s Sekou Toure, Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere, Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta, Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser and a few others who fought for independence on the continent. Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo possibly summed up Dr Kaunda’s place in history last Friday: “We are marking what is truly the end of an era on our continent… the last of the great freedom fighters, the philosopher CLICK TO READ MORE