He was prone to taking some unilateral decisions, e.g. the '1974 Youth Week Inauguration' venue saga when Tembo decided, without Banda's permission, to stage the event in Lilongwe to coincide with the 'New Capital City' inauguration gala Banda had yet to sanction. Banda found this offensive and in the presence of Gwanda Chakuamba dressed down Tembo before instructing Chakuamba to rearrange, at a very high cost to the government, the Youth Week inauguration back in Blantyre. Despite Cecilia Kadzamira's intervention, Banda proceeded to remove John Tembo from the National Celebrations Council and placed him into a minor post of Reserve Bank Governor and the ceremonial Chairman of the University Council. The Banda-Tembo relationship soured and it became an uphill struggle, with Cecilia's active support, for Tembo to regain his position of prominence. His role as the Chichewa interpreter to Banda was engineered so that John Tembo stayed in Banda's presence. Cecilia engineered the removal as interpreter and subsequent demise in disgrace of the eloquent Chichewa speaking John Msonthi; whereupon on Msonthi's burial day a gun battle ensued between the Msonthi and Tembo/ Kadzamira clans. And when John Tembo suggested, during one of Dr. Banda's speech on ubiquitous and 'invisible enemies', that ministers and those around the President should carry automatic weapons to 'defend' Dr. Banda, John Tembo was swiftly rapped on the wrist and a temporary replacement interpreter was arranged.