Mutharika refutes K51 billion new presidential jet plans
President Peter Mutharika has dismissed reports that his government plans to buy a US$51 million (K51 billion) presidential jet, saying the reports are false.
He was speaking in Lilongwe on Sunday on his return from the Republic of South Africa where he attended the BRICS Summit.
According to press reports, the issue of purchasing a new presidential jet was tabled at a cluster meeting between Malawi Defence Force (MDF)officials and the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Security in May this year and that Treasury have confirmed the plans.
Government was considering buying a new jet in order to make international travel for the President more convenient.
But Mutharika, who is currently using either chartered or commercial flights, said a new jet was not under consideration.
Malawi Economic Justice Network (Mejn) said if the authorities will pursue the plans to buy the jet it will be insensitive as the plane only benefits an individual at the expense of other pressing needs.
Mejn executive director Dalitso Kubalasa said the country “ needs to look at our priorities again,”
The country’s last presidential jet was sold by the former president, Joyce Banda, in 2012 in an attempt to boost her popularity both domestically and internationally.
The jet had become a symbol of the increasingly erratic rule of Mutharika’s elder brother, Bingu wa Mutharika, who was president between 2004 and April 2012.
Indeed, the purchase of the jet in 2010 was one of the factors that prompted donors to suspend aid to the country in 2011.
When Banda became president after Bingu wa Mutharika’s death in April 2012, donors reinstated direct aid on the understanding that, among other actions to clean up the country’s public finances, she would sell the jet.
Although Banda met this condition, it later transpired that the jet had been sold to a company that leased the jet back to Banda, and allegedly received preferential treatment in the award of government contracts – this allegation was never proved, but the affair was one of the factors that contributed to donors withdrawing direct government aid once again in 2013.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
yeah with an aiport building just like a nigerian mansion. one would ask is this somebodys villa and with a sad face you reply no its our airport .eish. atayala cidutsa ca carpet with electric wires underneath and lots of dust kumangkwinyika ukamapondapo. this is for us locals and them having a bar aircondition wall to wall carpet with good toilet facilities when they buy cikatoni type of toilet tissues for the locals i guess we dont deserve the best from our own taxes. SAAAAD.they are just too pompous. with no agenda. mxiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii leloso ndwege/ 145 million plus???? mxiiiiiiiiiiiiii you… Read more »
LETS AVOID EXAGGERATING POVERTY.. AS A MALAWIAN I REALLY FEEL ASHAMED WHEN I SEE MY COUNTRY’S PRESIDENT DESCENDING FROM A COMMERCIAL FLIGHT FOR AN OFFICIAL BUSINESS WHOSE DELEGATES HAVE ARRIVED ON PRIVATE JETS…..
MALAWIANS PLEASE LETS STOP EXAGGERATING POVERTY..
Firstly usd51m is not mwk51bn. Secondly private jets do not cost that much. We have too much ‘fake newsy’ going around. Respect freedom of speech but this is abusing such freedoms. They should report facts and stop with sensationalizing issues. We have enough headaches to worry about!
Is there anyone WITH SENSE who can tell APM that his reputation is that of a thief other than a leader?
Apumbwa being inconsiderate again! they are down playing it cause the CSO went to report him to Geneva and Chilima just had another successful lunch at Njamba “FREEDOM” park when they tried to sabotage his gathering. But risking vote for these thieves again they wouldn’t give a rats ass that the country has no electricity but go ahead and buy a jet for a single person so he can fly to overseas hospitals while tax payers have no lights for starters in hospitals to medicines. I have never voted in my life cause i didnt trust any party nor these… Read more »
If Malawi cannot afford what it takes to provide electricity 24/7 for the economic growth of the country, it certainly cannot afford the luxury of a Presidential jet. Mutharika is not Donald Trump. To even consider the purchase of a jet for his own personal use indicates how little he thinks about the welfare of the majority of Malawians who are suffering under his leadership.
MOST OF MY TIME I ASK MYSELF … WHY IS MALAWI SO RETROGRESSIVE ? , WHY DO PEOPLE THINK IN A BACKWARD WAY.?..
MYSELF I FIND NO PROBLEM FOR OUR STATE PRESIDENT TO HAVE A PRESIDENTIAL JET… ITS A FLAG CARRIER, IT UPLIFT OUR STATUS QUO… YES, WE ARE POOR BUT POVERTY NEED NOT TO BE EXAGGERATED .. THIS TENDENCY OF EXAGGERATING POVERTY IS WHAT LOWERS OUR CONFIDENCE AND SELF ESTEEM ….
WE CANNOT THING OF PROGRESS BECAUSE WE PRAISE AND EXAGGERATE POVERTY TOO MUCH…
Nothing wrong with buying a jet especially if it is going to be used by entire executive. The cost at US$51m isn’t that bad. If the deal is above board then the country as a whole can benefit from the president’s visit to his fellow African leaders at a press of a button.
@#DzukaniAmalawi & @mark: Are you guys serious??????
a pumbwa
Osangowapempha agogo ake a Ngongoliwa amupatsa ya ufiti bwanji
kikikikikikikikikikikiki koma che nnungu you’ve made my day!! I now remember that paja agogo ankati amatha and can defeat anamapopa etiiiiiii Man mwaonjezaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!