Malawi govt to continue construction of embassy offices to cut K3bn monthly rentals

Government says it will continue construction of chancelleries and offices for Malawi missions abroad in a bid to cut on a staggering K3.3 billion rental fees a month.

Foreign Affairs and International ministry principal secretary Daliso Kabambe has said the rentals fees are proving to be more costly than ever before.

He said in Zambia, the government has completed the construction of a chancellery to the tune of K3billion.

In Harare, Kabambe said, the government is rehabilitating 16 mission residences.

“We have 16 houses in Zimbabwe out of the 21 members of staff we had. The number of the diplomats has been reduced to five so this means we will rent out the other residences and get money for the day to day running of the mission there,” he said.

He said the US is proving to be more expensive with the government paying US$35000 a month in Washington and US$30000 a month in New York.

Kabambe therefore said the government is exploring ways of buying property in the US to reduce the cost of running the US mission.

Malawi has currently 18 fully fledged missions worldwide.

However some sections of society feel people sent in the missions are not as productive as they are expected because they are sent because of political connections, they are not career diplomats.

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