‘Magande lying’
IT is reprehensible for a man of his character to lie about such a grave and serious national matter as the Gabon air disaster, a senior government official in the Chiluba administration has said in reference to former Finance Minister Ngandu Magande’s claims that the ill-fated plane wreckage was never retrieved. Surely he must know that it is apart from everything else, it is standard procedure to retrieve for examination, by aircraft manufacturer to ascertain the cause of accidents,” an official from the Chiluba administration said.
Mr Magande claimed in a Facebook posting that though money was released for salvaging the plane wreckage after the entire Zambia national soccer team perished ŏ the coast of *abon, the plane Zas neYer retrieved. “Operation to retrieve bodies and salvageable parts of the aircraft started at day break. Horrendous pictures were taken as bodies were retrieved. This were kept away from the public for obvious reasons,” the source said. The source told the Daily Nation that Mr Magande, who was at the Zambia National Commercial Bank (ZANACO) at the time, should be the last person to speak about the matter because he Zas fired for refusing to release funds for investigations of the disaster. Mr Samuel Musonda, who replaced Mr Magande as ZANACO managing director, released the money and investigations were carried out and the wreckage and remains of the air disaster victims retrieved. 7he air disaster claimed liYes including fiYe creZ members and football players and officials The accident was attributed to engine failure coupled with human error as the pilot was said to have been fatigued 7he pilot reportedly sZitched ŏ the Zrong engine Zhen one caught fire ³,t is hateful and incomprehensible that Magande could politicize