By LordDenning QB
The Commission of Inquiry report has told us; to which I have understood that:
Having exercised his discretion to determine that the funeral of the late Ralph Kasambara, former Attorney General and former Minister of Justice, should be STATE FUNERAL, the President (as head of STATE) had to send Government delegation since he could not be available himself as he was scheduled to depart for Bahamas in the afternoon of that day (10th June 2024).
The SPC (the one I don’t like by the way), testified to the Commission that it is an established practice that the OPC makes a proposal to the President suggesting who should represent the President at such STATE events when the President himself is not in attendance. I have highlighted in part 1 that in a communication between Dr. Sikwese (PS in the office of the Vice President) and the SPC earlier that day, the Vice President’s office had informed the SPC that the Vice President was non-committal as regards the attendance of the funeral. In that stead, the OPC had to propose names of other Government officials to represent the President, in which case they proposed the name of Minister of Home Affairs (Hon. Richard Chimwendo Banda). The President approved the suggestion and the said Minister was scheduled to represent the President and the STATE.
Later in the evening [this was 9th June], the Commission reveals, Dr. Sikwese communicated with the SPC indicating that the Vice President has formed the mind that he was going to attend the funeral AND THAT HE WOULD GO BY THE PLANE up to Mzuzu Airport and transit from Mzuzu to Nkhata-Bay by road. With this development, the SPC informed the President that “the Vice President” has expressed that he was attending the funeral. Not having any report that the State Vice President had returned from South Korea, the President interpreted “the Vice President” to mean the Vice President of the MCP, Mr. Harry Mkandawire, who is also Minister of Defence (remember the STATE FUNERAL was to be with military honours). Unbeknownst to the President that “the Vice President” referred to was the State Vice President, he approved that he (in his mind referring to the Vice President of the party) can go, but that the Minister of Home Affairs should still accompany him TO STRENGTHEN GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATION.
When it became apparent to the SPC that the President apprehended the reference of “the Vice President” imprecisely, she had to rectify the presentation to the President that she was referring to the State Vice President. It is at this point that the President became officially notified that the Vice President had returned from South Korea. And I want you to keep in mind that at this point the Vice President’s office had already informed the SPC that the Vice President decided to travel by plane up to Mzuzu.
Now let us address the following questions:
Should the President have rejected to be represented by the State Vice President on the basis that the Vice President did not inform the President of his return from South Korea? If the President made that decision, what would happen to their political relationship with the Vice President?
Upon learning that the Vice President was going to travel via the military plane, would it be justifiable for the President (Commander-In-Chief) to refuse the use of the military by the State Vice President who intended to go to a STATE FUNERAL? What would happen to their political relationship which the President had tried so had to be preserved in good condition?
