…flying to China, USA in September
..USA warns over expenditure out of control
President Lazarus Chakwera is so addicted to flying out of the country that, apart from making four nations visit without any immediate benefit to the Malawi economy, he is set to fly out again on arrival—this time to China and the United States of America.
President Chakwera- an ordained pastor- has shown less compassion to the suffering millions of Malawians and is making mockery of declaration of national disaster of current extreme hunger affecting over 4 million Malawians as he keeps blowing hard scare public funds on private jets and five-star hotels in Europe and Africa.
A Government finance official claims the President’s trip in August and September alone will blow K4.5 billion at the time it is struggling to finance Local Councils, Hospitals and other essential services including public workers’ salaries.
“The budget was around US$2 million (about K5 billion) but some departments are so in red they can’t even borrow air tickets, as the result they must stay. It has never happened that at the time the economy is this bad, a President and his vice show a carefree attitude. It is heart breaking to see suppliers some as low as K2 million failing to be paid for almost a year. There is no money,” said an accountant who said most Treasury and accounts officials in Ministries are now specialising in ducking creditors.
Senior Treasury officials were left panicking in Lilongwe this week discussing with local banks loan to pay Civil Service salaries and there are fears that Malawi is off track over the International Monetary Fund programme, that could lead to suspension mainly due to uncontrolled expenditure by President Chakwera, Vice President Micheal Usi and most of his cabinet who are busy travelling within and out of Malawi.
Malawi IMF programme off track
A senior United States Government official- Eric Meyer this week has voiced his concerns loudly over huge appetite for expenditures President Chakwera and his administration has shown, clearly telling Capital Hill it will not be able to qualify for second IMF trench.
The President has been on the road every in Malawi and was only grounded due to the tragic death of Vice President Saulos Chilima in June which clearly must have caused irritation to his appetite for jets.
Malawi has been off track since February and instead of tackling its debt crisis, it has been borrowing heavily including for private companies which will likely affect the IMF programme and is likely to worsen the economic woes.
“The problem with President Chakwera he likes and enjoys being a president but not the responsibility that comes with it. The carelessness in spending the little resources available has huge impact on the poorest. The kwacha will keep falling, prices will go up and food will not even be available for the poor. This harvest period maize is already selling above K40,000, by December Malawi will experience things it has never seen,” projected an economist with Malawi Government.
Only SADC trip was necessary
The Investigator Magazine analysis of the President’s tour of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Italy, and Germany shows that the President’s communications team has been working hard to add value to useless photo opportunities and justify the K1.9 billion spent on photography tour so far.
Only the stop in Harare for the annual SADC summit can be tendered as valuable in terms of regional cooperation and integration, and the rest of the trips are just to generate allowances for over 70 people that have travelled between the four countries.
Here is our analysis based on his own posts:
Day 1: Mozambique arrival (14 August)
The President posts that he has signed an electricity and fuel access agreement with Mozambique. He does not explain how different this is from the already signed interconnection power line when it will start, where Malawi will access this electricity or how much electricity will be.
Our conclusion: Another poor justification. President Nyusi was also travelling to Harare, Zimbabwe, and a strategic and thinking presidency would have signed the agreement on the sidelines of the SADC summit as a demonstration of regional cooperation and cost savings.
Day 2: 15 August- Receives Honorary Doctorate
An excited President Chakwera’s Facebook page has six posts repeating this “great achievement” of an Honorary Doctorate. This has no value or benefit to Malawi’s economy or those seeking help in terms of food and jobs.
The total cost of the leg is US$280,000.00, which is enough to run Kamuzu Central Hospital and Mzuzu Central Hospital for a month. The President chartered a Malawian plane for this leg.
Day 3 to Day 5: Harare, Zimbabwe
The President’s only valuable leg as a founding member of SADC. The only minus was the large delegation that cost at least US$400,000 for the summit, including advance meeting costs.
Day 6: 19 August -Rome Italy
Photoshop and visit to the Vatican: No economic value to Malawi. The Church in Malawi said it was not involved and the discussions with the Head of Catholic Church. Here is what the President wrote about his meeting with the Pope:
“In my historic and official visit to Rome, I have met with His Holiness Pope Francis at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City.
During the homely meeting, we discussed the progress of bilateral relations between Malawi and the Holy See, drawing on rich historical ties between our two States.
I conveyed to His Holiness the Pope my great delight in having an audience with him.
I did say that I had come not only representing the Malawian people, a significant portion of which are Catholics, but also as a student and disciple, eager to continue learning about servant-leadership that puts the needs of the people first.
I also used the meeting to commend Pope Francis for his leadership in matters of global concern, such as climate change and rising economic inequality, advocating for partnership between the two States.
On a personal note, I expressed my sadness and condolences to His Holiness on the recent tragic passing of Former Vice President Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima, whom the Pope had met in 2016.
I intimated that the late Dr. Chilima was “a devout Catholic and a source of inspiration for millions of Malawians”, and thanked the Pontif for the exceptional leadership and ministry of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi in shepherding Malawians through the daze of shock, grief, and confusion that followed the tragic plane crash that claimed the life of Dr. Chilima.
Pope Francis also pronounced his blessing upon me and the people of Malawi, pledging support for and solidarity with Malawi’s quest for greater prosperity and peace.
His Holiness the Pope directed that the Vatican’s Secretary of State meet with me before my departure from the Holy See, not only to make further progress on how the relations between Malawi and the Vatican can be strengthened, but to also to see to it that I get conducted on a private tour of St. Peter’s Basilica for a moment of prayer for Malawi-Vatican relations.
Sadly, in his own words, the trip was a religious pilgrimage at a time when 4 million Malawians were facing hunger, and the President saw it fit to spend over US$250,000 to shake hands and take photos with the Pope.
Visit to FAO/ Community of St Egidio
President Lazarus Chakwera has broken records- he now visits UN Agencies heads in their offices, a clear sign of ignorance of how the UN agencies operate. To justify his jet-loving sessions, the President booked an appointment with the Head of Food and Agriculture Organisations.
This embarrassment has been his trend. He flew from Brussels to Geneva to visit the UN under the Secretary General to talk about Malawi. Your Excellency, Malawi is a member of the United Nations; these are International Civil Servants—not donors.
The country’s programmes have already been agreed upon and implemented by the Government. While bungling into their offices to the amusement of diplomats, the Director Generals and all others read notes prepared by their officers in Lilongwe.
So President Chakwera and his entourage spent hundreds of millions of kwacha flying into Rome to hear the same thing the FAO resident representative and his Ministry of Agriculture will tell him. This is a total mockery of the office and a total waste of public resources. Director Generals don’t make or influence decisions; UN programmes are an elaborate process done with the Ministries in Malawi.
The stop in Rome had zero economic value.
Day 8: Germany- Frankfurt
There was a meet-and-greet, but nothing out of it, save for a visit to a waterway. He speaks of revamping the water transport system but does not provide specifics, and his post misses the details as to who will invest.
Feasibility studies on Lake Malawi have not been done yet, and there is no traffic in terms of cargo or people that can warrant huge investment now. Unless the regional Mtwara corridor is implemented, which will move cargo for Malawi, Zimbabwe, North Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania, and Congo, the President’s talk is simply aimed at justifying allowances paid for sightseeing in Frankfurt.
The anticlimax of the trip is the President riding a bicycle, an image the State House quickly deleted from its page. It was an insult to the poor Malawians—flying billions to play on a bike in Europe. That image should never have been released. It was in bad taste.
Day 9: Germany-Berlin
President Chakwera is in the German capital; he watches the signing of a 50-megawatt solar project at Mzuzu University and a meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at his official residence.
The Mzuzu Project has already been in the news, and visiting a German President has no impact on Germany’s Government support for Malawi. The Head of Government in Germany is the Chancellor.
The highest-ranking Government official the President met is an Assistant Minister at the Treasury, who must have been dispatched out of diplomatic necessity. Germans like value and their time. They sent President Chakwera to a ceremonial President because that’s why he is there- welcome guests that have no agenda.
Ask the President’s team about the agenda of Mozambique, Rome, and Italy and, in real value, what benefits Malawi will accrue versus the impact of the sudden withdrawal of billions of kwacha from the Treasury—they will create figures like the scandalous Bridging Foundation. The truth is the trip, again, has no economic or investment value.
The President might visit Malawi for 9days before heading to China, USA
As if the nearly K1.9 billion tag for the four-nations tour is not enough, President Chakwera will hit the skies again the first week of September, according to State House officials, where he will attend the China-Africa summit, which is being held from the 4th to 6th of September.
Some advance team members are expected in China around 1st September, making it a six-day visit to Malawi by President Chakwera. China will be his 55th International stop.
From China, the President has already booked accommodation in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. It is not clear if he will attempt to visit Malawi or proceed from China.
He is expected to stay two weeks in America.
With 10 Days in August, five to six in China and 14 days in the USA, President Chakwera will spend an average of 30 days outside Malawi, blowing an estimated US$1.8 million (K4.5 billion) at the time the country is struggling.
His 56th international trip to the USA will bring him close to 60 international trips in less than five years, which means the President would, on average, have been flying outside the country every month of his five-year term.
The Investigator Magazine will celebrate the 60th trip by publishing all the agreements and amounts of billions he announced on return and have not materialised.
