Malawi puts strong case to host AU summit
Malawi government has put up a “substantial case” to the AU inspection team justifying how the country is prepared to host the summit, according to Minister of Transport Mohammed Sidik Mia, who is chairing the committee working on the summit preparations.
The AU pre-summit inspection team which visited the country recently to inspect its facilities indicated that for the country needed 4,000 hotel rooms, but only 1,800 were available.
The team also noted that the country’s Kamuzu International Airport in the capital Lilongwe lacks capacity to hold huge air traffic and couldn’t accommodate scores of presidential jets.
But Mia says the country has put up a “substantial case” ato the AU pre-summit inspection team to justify bringing the event to Malawi in July this year.
According to Mia, Kamuzu International Airport was undergoing rehabilitation and that alternative parking space would be provided at the military base if the airport would not handle the air traffic.
The country’s inability to provide uninterrupted power and water as well as transportation due to continued fuel and diesel shortages was also a concern of the AU inspectors.
Meanwhile, Mia told Capital FM that Malawi tax payers will foot the accommodation bills for delegates, including up to 35 Heads of State coming for the summit at the newly constructed five star hotel in the capital, Lilongwe.
The main agenda at the summit will be elections for the union’s Commission chairperson who is the chief executive at the secretariat in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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