![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.faceofmalawi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Mutharika_is_dead.jpg\" "\\"Mutharika_is_dead\\"")
<\/a>Late Mutharika<\/p><\/div>
\nAccording to an eye witness University of Pretoria Malawi Christopher Manyamba there was no official from the Malawi Embassy who was ready to take any responsibilities during the send off of the late president who died of cardiac arrest on April 5. \u201cIt was pathetic that there was no official from Malawi (not even ambassador in SA-present for the send-off at the Military chapel at 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria,\u201d said Manyamba who explained that \u201cIt was so embarrassing as a nation when the SANDF officials came to ask -\u2019who can we talk to in case of other essentials and protocols\u2019, there was no-one\u201d.<\/p>\n
Manyamba says he however earlier noted people from the embassy and the party who had brought flowers but just put them \u201cat the corner of the chapel\u201d without wanting to be identified as Malawi officials responsible for the late presidents\u2019 send off. \u201cThe second time the SANDF enquired about someone to communicate to was when they were wrapping the flag on the coffin, again these officials from the embassy and party distanced themselves and said-\u2019those responsible were coming, until 11am when they had just to wrap the coffin with our flag, which was first wrapped the wrong way and later rectified,\u201d he says. Manyamba says following this there was a short prayer by the Military Reverend and the SANDF slow marched the body of Mutharika to the hearse outside the hospital, from where it was driven to Waterkloof Air Force Base about 3 kilometres away.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole ceremony of bringing the body of the late back to Malawi just hurt me as a Malawian, and to see even the orange government behaving this way-by not sending even a military attach\u00e9 or someone from OPC to communicate with the SANDF,\u201d said Manyamba<\/p>\n
Manyamba says he would have felt better if \u201cthe government through the high commission would have actively got involved in the transportation of the remains of the president. His says apart from the former first lady, Mutharika\u2019s son and daughter who joined the procession later there were only 26 people at Waterkloof Air Force Base (Pretoria), where the guard of honor ceremony was being held. Manyamba advises president Banda to be careful with the people that have pledged support for her People\u2019s Party.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that PP does not have any MPs in the 193-member parliament, but she should be careful of the pledged support from the members who are busy ditching the DPP and joining PP,\u201d he says adding, \u201cIt\u2019s my prayer that Her Excellency JB notes that the \u2018we shall work with your government\u2019 is a mere sign of greed and that she does not include such recycled politicians\u201d.<\/p>\n
President Banda has told DPP officials who have pledged to support and join her PP to wait until Mutharika is laid to rest in a dignified manner befitting a head of state. \u201cYou cant just start announcing that you have ditched the DPP through the radio,\u201d said Banda at a press conference where she asked the aspirants to contact the party\u2019s secretary general. Over 50 members of parliament and officials including DPP second vice president Yunus Mussa have pledge to support Banda and her PP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Malawian staying in South Africa has expressed disappointment with the behaviour of the country\u2019s embassy staff and Democratic Progressive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[525,300,465,2065,1034,258,379],"class_list":["post-9263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","tag-bingu","tag-bingu-wa-mutharika","tag-dpp","tag-malawians","tag-mutharika","tag-malawi","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9263\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}