‘Mutharika luggage episode suspicious’

President Peter Mutharika’s mishap of missing luggage and waiting for close to an hour during a connecting flight to Valetta in Malta should be dealt with suspicion and jolt authorities into action on the competence of aides who handle presidential itinerary, commentators have told Nation on Sunday.

Mutharika arrived in Malta without some luggage as some of it was stuck in Johannesburg, South Africa, and only arrived Wednesday evening.

As some commentators fear the drama surrounding the presidential trip could be a public relations stunt, Boniface Dulani of Chancellor College said in an interview on Saturday that  the matter should raise eyebrows and be treated with suspicion.

He agreed with another political scientist Joseph Chunga, who, in an interview with our sister paper Weekend Nation, questioned the authenticity of  the circumstances and criticism that surrounded Mutharika’s large entourage to United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), arguing it could be a reason to justify buying or chartering of jets.

Said Dulani: “A President losing luggage is not anything special for the nation to be worried about. All of us who travel, miss luggage all the time. At least, he is rich he can buy new one quickly. I think they are just trying to play games.

“One is tempted to think this is just propaganda. After the controversy over the UN trip, I find it hard to believe this issue. It is all very suspicious. Something does not add up,” said Dulani.

Humphrey Mvula, who was once a close aide of former president Bakili Muluzi, agreed with Dulani’s skeptical view on the matter, but cautioned the nation from jumping into conclusions.

Mvula said though the President was flying on a commercial airline, the missing luggage episode was unprecedented and difficult to believe.

“Normally, the presidential luggage is VVIP and it has somebody from State House who is travelling with it. Often its security people who are responsible for such luggage and when it is carried on a plane, it is properly handled with strict normal diplomatic protocol.

“Such luggage should not disappear because even airlines properly mark it as they are informed and are familiar with diplomatic protocol. Technically, you are carrying presidential material,” explained Mvula.

He raised concerns over lack of information on how the luggage was lost, pointing out that such luggage is often jealously guarded and travel with accompanying diplomatic privileges.

“Yes, any luggage can miss, but someone should understand exactly where it was lost and how. Presidential luggage cannot be tampered with. It is diplomatic. This is  very reason I am very surprised. It is very surprising,” said Mvula.

He questioned the role of aides who were supposed to handle the luggage.

Added Mvula: “It could be a case of serious security lapse. The role of the security personnel who travel with the luggage is to ensure it is carried through to the next plane. What were they doing? We need proper information before rushing to any conspiracy theories or buying this story. We need to know what are the airlines saying and is the security apparatus saying. It’s something that happens once in a blue moon, so we need to get to the bottom of what happened,” said Mvula.

A former protocol officer Lytton Nkata in an interview with Weekend Nation also blamed the mishaps on serious glitches in the VVIP protocol arrangements.

Another Chancellor College-based communication specialist Jimmy Kainja said people are justifiably suspicious because the Democratic Progressive Party government has been misinforming people on several issues.

“Ever since this government came into power, there has been a campaign of misinformation on several matters.

“When people lose confidence in the government public relations system, it can easily lead to a catastrophe,” said Kainja.

He said aviation experts need to come to the fore of the debate for the public to fully understand the episode.

“These are people who really handle such luggage. Apparently, we are being told there were sensitive documents. Things miss all the time, but in our context, we need to be careful because we could see this leading to calls for procurement of a new jet,” said Kainja.

The President led a Malawi delegation at a Commonwealth summit in Malta and was proceeding to United Kingdom where he was later expected to be attending and addressing a business forum. n