Zambia Daily Mail Limited has apologised for leaving the late sixth President, Edgar Chagwa Lungu, out of its 62nd Independence anniversary supplement, the Zambian Observer reported on Monday 26 October. In a public notice reproduced in part by the Observer, the company said the omission "was entirely unintentional", offered an "unreserved apology to the nation", and said that management "regards this lapse with the seriousness it deserves, and the matter is being handled administratively". The Observer does not say who signed the notice.
The supplement, published on Friday 23 October, carried a commemorative page showing President Hakainde Hichilema alongside former presidents Kenneth Kaunda, Frederick Chiluba, Levy Mwanawasa, Rupiah Banda and Michael Sata, according to the Observer's earlier report of Saturday 24 October. Lungu, who governed from 2015 to 2021, was not on it. The Observer reported at the time that the reason for the exclusion was unclear and that the paper had not responded.
The complaint
The first public objection the Observer recorded came from Given Katuta Mwelwa, the former Member of Parliament for Chienge, who asked the Daily Mail's management to explain the omission and take corrective action. "We cannot build a united Zambia by selectively remembering our history," she is quoted as saying, arguing that Independence Day should recognise every former head of state regardless of political affiliation. The Observer reported that the omission also drew criticism on social media, and that reaction among its own readers was divided, with some defending the page and others calling Lungu's presidency a matter of historical record.
We cannot build a united Zambia by selectively remembering our history.
— Given Katuta Mwelwa, former MP for Chienge, as quoted by the Zambian Observer on Saturday 24 October
The apology leaves two questions the Observer's reports do not answer: how a commemorative page of presidents came to omit one, and what the administrative handling will consist of. Neither report carries a comment from the Lungu family or from the government. This account rests on the Observer's two reports; the Daily Mail's notice itself was not available online at the time of writing.
Sources: Zambian Observer, “Daily Mail apologizes to the nation for leaving out ECL in Independence Day publication!” (26 Oct 2026); Zambian Observer, “Lungu's Omission From Independence Supplement Sparks Backlash” (24 Oct 2026).