Rome did not recognise Malawi’s presence at the funeral of Pope John Paul II on Friday, a list released by the Vatican on the day of the funeral indicates.
Malawi, which sent a two-man delegation that accompanied two Catholic bishops to the Vatican for the funeral, was not on the list of over 110 nations that attended the funeral mass at St Peter’s Square in Vatican City through heads of state or their deputies, ministers or deputies and other senior government officials.
But Foreign Affairs Minister Davies Katsonga on Sunday blamed Vatican for the omission, saying no government has a right to decide who another government should send to such a function.
“I haven’t seen the list but this is very unusual. Let me see the document and see if we can ask them if it could be amended,” he said.
Katsonga could not comment on whether the omission was due to the status of the delegation. He only said: “When these people travel they do not take letters from government indicating their positions.”
Countries on the list sourced from the Vatican and Wire News Services included African countries like Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Lesotho, Uganda, Ethiopia and Nigeria, most of which sent either a president or a minister.
Malawi sent former UDF deputy secretary general Paul Maulidi, who is not known to hold a position in Bingu wa Mutharika’s government, and presidential aide for Religious Affairs Malani Mtonga.
The delegation drew criticism from both politicians and the public.
On Thursday Parliamentarians, currently sitting in Lilongwe, asked government to call back the delegation, which they described as ‘low key’ and ‘very minimum’.
Some of the Parliamentarians even joked that the delegation would not find its way in Rome, let alone be greeted there.
UDF spokesperson Sam Mpasu on Sunday said the omission of Malawi on the list portrays that government lacks protocol.
He said even if such a delegation does not carry a letter from government stating their positions, government was supposed to send an official notification to let the host country arrange for protocol.
“And then they also carry a letter of condolence signed by the head of state which would be presented to the head of state of the other country,” he said.
Government spokesperson Ken Lipenga said the omission was probably due to communication breakdown between the delegation and the Vatican.
“However, what matters is that we went there, a correct gesture was made. Malawi might not be the only country (with a delegation) missing on the list,” said Lipenga, who is also Minister of Information and Tourism