At exactly 20 minutes after noon yesterday, a brave Johnny took to the lofty stage at Balaka Stadium to sing a song by his fallen father, Lucius Banda who most Malawians knew as ‘Soldier of the Poor’.
In five minutes, the deceased’s son, concealing his teary eyes in tinted sunglasses, set the tone for the funeral service of the music giant he admittedly addressed as “dude”.
“If ever I addressed him as dad, he knew I wanted him to do me a favour,” said Johnny, who led Soldier’s children and Zembani Band in a gripping tribute.
Interludes of the good ole music whipped up the sombre mood as thousands packed the rustic stadium to mourn the man Senior Chief Nsamala of Balaka termed the district’s greatest entertainer.
widow and family relations
However, the crowd from all walks of life that saw him off yesterday illustrated how he had outgrown his hometown.
From his debut Son of the Poor Man to his final bow in Love and Hate, the versatile Lucius Banda, who has gifted the nation 20 albums, rose from the Catholic beats of Alleluiah Band, led by his brother Paul, to become a nationwide secular music sensation and political activist to watch.
“Lucius was a fearless activist, a voice of the voiceless,” said UTM Party secretary-general Patricia Kaliati.
She remembered the fallen soldier as the infant party’s founding member and crowd-puller.
Kaliati said the selfless musician-turned-politician had a song for every season, including a playlist in protest against nearly all regimes’ political and economic excesses.
“If things weren’t going well in this country, Lucius didn’t hesitate to release a song against it,” she said.
Lucius died on Sunday, June 30, shutting down a month the country lost vice-president Saulos Chilima and eight others in a plane crash on June 10 on the way to attend former minister of Justice Ralph Kasambara’s funeral in Nkhata Bay.
With the UTM supporters still lighting candles in honour of founding leader Chilima, Kaliati could only wish away the month that deprived the party of its famous pair.
“If we had the power to scrape June from the calendar, we could have instantly cancelled the tragic month,” she wailed.
Lucius was a two-time legislator of Balaka North Constituency, albeit his first stint in Parliament was cut short when he was jailed for forging a Malawi School Certificate of Education.
However, he bounced back to in 2014 after serving jail for the case that came shortly after he had championed a motion for lawmakers to debate impeachment procedures that supposedly targeted his friend-turned-foe, President Bingu wa Mutharika.
He lost the seat to independent Tony Ngalande in May 2019, two years before he was appointed President Lazarus Chakwera’s adviser on youth and art affairs.
Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture Richard Chimwendo Banda said the President was shocked by the death of his counsellor.
Speaking on behalf of the President, who nodded as he gazed at the casket in front of him, he credited Banda’s counsel for the modernisation of the National Economic Empowerment Fund and the National Youth Programme.
Chimwendo Banda, who is also Leader of the House, eulogised the deceased as a fearless musician and champion for the powerless through his songs that entertained, educated and chided the nation, including those in power.
He waxed lyrical of the hit, Paulendo, which urges those who stumble to rise, dust themselves up and soldier on.
“Many times we stumble as a nation, but Lucius’ songs will always remind us to dust ourselves and soldier on,” said Chimwendo Banda.
A downcast Chakwera uttered no word during the funeral, as did the deceased’s surviving siblings Paul and Francis, who are also battling chronic illnesses.
Spokespersons of the bereaved family and UTM Party thanked the government for funding Lucius’ medical treatment both locally and abroad, but asked him not to forget his ailing brothers.
Also in attendance were the country’s first woman leader Joyce Banda, Vice-President Michael Usi, former United Democratic Front president Atupele Muluzi and Democratic Progressive Party envoy Bright Msaka.
Lucius named his last-born after Atupele’s father, former president Bakili Muluzi, whom the late entertainer served as a personal publicist before defecting from UDF to UTM.
Born on June 17 1970, Lucius’ remains were lowered into his grave at Sosola at 3.11pm yesterday.
His firstborn Johnny led his three siblings—Mapiri, Ben and Laura to lay wreaths on the grave.
The three boys and a girl held each other’s shoulders before standing united in giving a three-minute military style salute.
“Soldier, forever in our hearts,” read a banner on the back of the boys’ white T-shirts with camouflage sleeves, Lucius’ portrait in front and all his 20 albums faintly printed all over the back.
However, everyone, including the children and their mother Sunganani and the President, laid the flowers on blockboards that covered the gaping grave ostensibly to save time.
His funeral was conducted by Archbishop George Desmond Tambala and Auxiliary Bishop Vincent Mwakhwawa, both of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Lilongwe together with their counterpart Allesandro Pagani, bishop emeritus for Mangochi Diocese.
On December 30 1995, Lucius wedded his boyhood sweetheart Sunganani with whom she had the three children.
The musician died of kidney failure in South Africa on Sunday.
