WHO MADE A DECISION FOR THE VICE PRESIDENT TO TRAVEL BY PLANE
The Commission of Inquiry has established that:
Initially, the President had designated Richard Chimwendo Banda to represent him at the funeral. This was because the Vice President had not yet notified the President of his return from South Korea, where he was delegated to represent the country at a summit.
Later on, there was communication between the Vice President’s office and the Secretary to the President and Cabinet. During such communication, Dr. Lucky Sikwese, a Principal Secretary in the Office of the Vice President indicated that the Vice President was not going to attend the funeral because he was tired from the trip. Later in the evening, Dr. Lucky Sikwese informed the SPC that the Vice President had changed his mind and decided that he was going to attend the funeral.
When the SPC received the decision from the Vice President, she informed Richard Chimwendo, whom the President had earlier designated to represent him, of the changes that the Vice President was going to represent the President instead. However, he was still told to accompany the Vice President.
The Vice President decided that he would travel by the military plane. Dr. Lucky Sikwese directly contacted the MDF to request for the plane. MDF Commandar received phone call from Dr. Sikwese requesting the aircraft. The Commander informed Dr. Sikwese that the plane was scheduled to repatriate the remains of Mr. Kasambara. He also informed Dr. Sikwese that the weather in Mzuzu was bad. Dr. Sikwese then contacted the Kasamabara family who confirmed that the plane was indeed chartered for them, but they had no problems releasing it soon after transporting the remains to Mzuzu.
When Richard Chimwendo informed the Vice President team that he was assigned to accompany the Vice President and requested to be part of the team traveling by the plane, Dr. Lucky Sikwese informed Chimwendo that the plane was full. Dr Sikwese gave evidence that he had told Chimwendo that the plane was full because he was not aware of the changes as Mrs Mary Chilima and her close protection officer were initially designated to travel with the Vice President but arrangements changed.
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