LILONGWE—Zodiak Broadcasting Services, probably Malawi’s fastest growing radio, is in a position to carry live the probe into the death of former president Bingu wa Mutharika.

The private radio’s chief Gospel Kazako told MaraPost he’d written the Commission of Inquiry seeking authorization to broadcast the proceedings.

“Those inquiries aren’t fully covered,” he said. “There might be six or seven commissioners and those hearings. The idea is that the process being already public, its credibility can be enhanced by having a live broadcast all Malawians can hear at the same time.”

Kazako believes an individual with an inclination not to tell the whole truth could find it difficult to stick with the plan when giving testimony upon realization that the world was listening.

If allowed to air the proceedings, Kazango, whose station was the first to broadcast parliamentary debates and streams its programs online, said they'd record the inquiry and broadcast it later if there was a conflict with their regular programming.

“This is Zodiak’s contribution to ensuring that efforts and resources being put into these commissions bear positive fruits,” he said.

When Mutharika’s successor, Pres Joyce Banda, announced the Commission of Inquiry, the dead president’s younger brother, Peter, fired off a statement of protest, saying “why would we do that when we know all the facts surrounding the death?"

He characterized the probe as an “unjustified satanic mechanisation to advance personal and political agendas.”

But Pres Banda fired back: "The late President was no longer a family member...he was the president of Malawi and there are rules how you look after a president.

"All we are trying is to find out what happened, not who killed him. Is there anything we could have done to avoid his death, did he receive enough first aid, why were there three different signs of date of death?"

Banda said there were a "lot of gaps" that needed to be filled with the probe to "end speculation" on why it took time for the government to announce his death "when the rest of the world was announcing the president had died."

After suffering a heart attack in April, Mutharika was flown to South Africa and pronounced dead on arrival at a military hospital, officials revealed after days of confusion over his condition.

Mutharika had groomed Peter, the former foreign affairs minister, as his heir apparent, even though Banda, as vice president, was next in line to succeed him on his death.

Banda was not sworn in until April 7 after two days of backroom dealing.
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©2012 The Maravi Post. Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment.