Malawi envoy chased from Zambian building
Things are getting worse for embattled Malawian president Bingu wa Mutharika as his ‘relationship’ with the new Zambian president Michael Sata continues to get strained by the day.
The latest being the eviction of Malawi’s envoy from the Zambian premises in Dar –es- Salaam after the Zambian government hiked rent by 200 percent.
According to Zambian Watchdog, the countries two high commissions have been sharing an office block, which is along Ohio Street in the city centre and which the Zambian government owns.
But a few weeks ago, Zambia hiked the rent forcing the Malawi office to move out, watchdog said.
Malawi’s Principal Secretary in the ministry of foreign Affairs Patrick Kabambe confirmed the development…saying with the increase in the rentals they had no choice but to move out of the building.
A Zambian diplomat in n Dar-es-Salaam said, “Malawi will now operate from an office near Rose Garden area in Mikocheni, but its former offices on two floors are still vacant.”
President Sata recalled High Commissioner to Malawi Reuben Musakabantu, with immediate effect and has not sent a replacement.
The tension between the two friendly countries started after Sata won the elections in Zambia and remembered that he was ejected from Malawi in 2007.
In another development Zambia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Chishimba Kambwili says Zambia has held bilateral talks with the Malawian government, which has promised to send an envoy to Zambia to deliver a special message to President Sata and an apology over his deportation in 2007.
“When we were in Perth (Australia) we had bilateral talks with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malawi, who is His Excellency President Bingu wa Mutharika’s brother, and he has promised that he is coming to Zambia to deliver a special message and an apology to His Excellency President Michael Chilufya Sata,” Mr. Kambwili said told Lusaka Times.
