Chaponda ‘exaggerated’ on his meeting with UN chief during Malawi stop-over
Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development George Chaponda is under fire from the UN diplomatic community for “deliberately exaggerating” to a newspaper reporter that United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon personally phoned him to meet at Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe on Sunday.
The UN Chief landed in Malawi to refuel his plane and never stepped out of his plane but managed to meet the Agriculture Minister after he pressed the local UN agencies to schedule a meeting.
A source within the UN system said it was impossible and out of protocol for the UN chief to take his phone and call a Minister who is not even Foreign Affairs Minister.
“The staff for Mr. Ki-moon informed the UN family in Malawi that he would stop over at KIA and it was then that the Malawi government was informed with the Minister of Agriculture contacting the local UN offices for a meeting,” said the source.
The sources said after being told that the UN Chief will just wait for the refueling and leave, Chaponda insisted and finally a brief meeting was arranged where the minister walked to the plane.
“So it doesn’t hold water that the UN Chief can take his phone and call a Minister of his choice. It doesn’t work like that diplomatically,” said the source.
This perhaps put to rest media queries as to why the UN chief called the Agriculture minister instead of Foreign Affairs Francis Kasaila if there was any possibility for the UN Chief to call Ministers in Malawi.
However, Chaponda told a local newspaper that it was the UN Chief that sought audience with him and not the other way round.
Chaponda said the two among others discussed about self exiled former President Joyce Banda and the looming hunger crisis.
Ironically, the hunger crisis issue is a portfolio that is under Vice President Saulos Chilima whose office of Disaster Management has had its response plan launched last week by President Peter Mutharika.
A few months ago, Chaponda openly told a local radio that he aspires to succeed President Mutharika and that even when he worked for the UN his dream was to become UN Secretary General.
He is leader of government in parliament and ruling DPP vice president.
During his stop-over on Sunday, Ban was on his was to an International Aids Conference in Durban, South Africa.
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Malawians, I suppose we are being ruled by mafias. I don’t think Chaponda is that stupid to manufacture the lie that the UN secretary general personally called him for the meeting. He knew that the media and everyone else would pick this up and have a field day. These guys carefully staged this to divert people’s attention from the recent blunder of chattering a plane to receive an honorary degree in Ethiopia.
Did this succeed? Yes – here we are debating the seemingly shameless lie by this octogenarian!
Ki-Moon should have been told that there is a hunger and economic crisis in Malawi that deserves his official visit. He should have heard a long time ago that albinos are being killed here on superstitious grounds. These to any sensible person are more pressing issues than the issue of homosexuals which forced him to personally intervene some six years ago when the country had imposed a long imprisonment sentence on two citizens who had been found guilty of Sodomy. Is it not ironic that Ki-Moon and his UN body cares more about homosexuals than the lives of albinos and… Read more »
Alhomwe ache ati ku central ndi ku north. Limenero ndiye boza ndiye akadasiyana 150,000 votes yoberayo. Tifinya pakhosi 2019 DPP chonde wosadzathawa muno ndi ma green card anuwo kuopa kunjatidwa tizakusiyani pakanengo osati ku Lumbadzi ayi kwatalika, simwayamba kale kuti simukudziwa nduna zinabazo. Ndiyekuti inu mulimomo ndi Chaponda wanuyo mukumamutumayo ndani angavotere anthu akuba chotere ndimmene tazuzikira a Malawi. Tikufuna Chipani chapfuko kuchotsa nyansi zonse zagwetsa ziko lino kubweretsa mkaka ndi uchi ku Malawi. Ndunazimenezo aziphimbazo koma tizafukura ndikumanga nonse anthu woyipa inu wosakonda dziko lanu.
Mr analyst it is very news worthy for a full cabinet minister to lie to the public, it displays how untrustworthy the minister is. And being a cabinet minister is not fit to hold the office because we can’t trust a liar to handle our life affairs on daily basis. Mr analyst do you know that you can be fired at work for merely lying to your boss? And no one including a labour court can reinstate you if the employer convinced the court that you lied. The writer by highlighting about Chaponda’s interest in Presidential Job was not just… Read more »
Joyce Banda and the UN Chief wine and dine together, you guys are so ignorant!!!!! You have “spies” and you don’t know how close a relationship these two have??? The UN Chief has great respect and admiration for JB. He was probably laughing at you when you got off the plane. He even penned a letter to your president to leave her alone. You guys are so embarrassing.
O……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………O I wish that you Nyasatimes could be consistent in your reporting sometimes . . . . . . Just two days ago, when you first reported this UN Chief’s emergency landing, you wrote and I quote . . . “President Peter Mutharika shwiftly sent agriculture minister George Chaponda and scores of …………………………………………… And why do you think its ironic for Chaponda to discuss the hunger crisis with Moon; just because disaster management falls under Vice President’s office? . . . Do we need to be reminded that Chaponda is Minister of Agriculture hence as well placed (to discuss the… Read more »
You seem slightly off tangent. The article is clear that Chaponda “exaggerated”. It is first and foremost about a minister’s deliberate lies. You cannot trivialize that. It definitely reeks of moral turpitude on his part. Only in Africa can such behavior be viewed with gleeful abandon! No wonder we have spawned executive arrogance and kleptocracy!
Well said. Actually its as if its a crime to express your interest to vie for the position of president. Thanks for your article i just hope people will learn one or two things from it. Its also important for us to understand that being VP of MW does not make you the automatic successor to APM.
Kungoonetseratu kuti anzathu achilomwe ndiwodzikonda kuyambira Mthalikayo. Nzosathandiza kuona Chaponda meeting Ban-ki Moon. The President is being driven as Gerald Viola indicated earlier on in the media, he does not know the administration of the country, he has to go back teaching in USA and not as a President. The person who was supposed to be delegated by a wise leader was the Vice President because he is no 2 on Govt and State affairs(protocol). If the Vice Prsident was committed it was supposed to be assigned to Foreign Affairs minister Kasaila. This is another embarrasment to Malawians after Wife… Read more »
Hahaha! Akulu mukunamatu inu, Chakwera analuza kale kwa mlomwe ameneyu. Alomwe alipo ochuluka zedi from South to North. The center and north are full of alomwe who are working as tenants or as vendors.
As long as voting is on tribal lines Mutharika will win again in 2019.
Chakwera nde ndaninso. Pano kachipani ka khongolesi kaluthera m’manja mwake ngati nsalu yamakatani. Mac-hendes wako iwe mchipeta wotuwa n’gule…ukagwere.
Maunits amphamvu. Chaponda amadziyesa katakwe, that is why he brands himself as ”bulldozer” za zii! Muzithokoza kubera mavoti inu, otherwise pano mukudzikanda nkhope yosasambayo galu wachabechabe. Ban Ki Moon akaimbile phone inu ngati ndani? Trying to sound so important? Pano muzingokhonzeka kuthawa. 2019 munya!!!
Is this Newsworthy? If the minister was lying what has that got to do with Malawians other than him cheating himself whereby there is a saying in Chichewa “Kudzikwata ndi Chala”. The fact that they discussed hunger in the country is not an issue; who knows, possibly the VP chose to delegate Chaponda to represent him other than having the whole cabinet encroaching the UN Secretary General’s plane. Palibe nkhani apa.
Only fools can reason like this KKKKKK
Dude you totally missed the point here. Protocol was not followed period. Another embarrassment for Malawi government……… The president, his ministers and advisors have brains of a mouse, …………so retarded
Mmene ndikuimvera nkhaniyi Chaponda was called. Whether by Banki Moon himself or what you call the UN family in Malawi is irrelevant!