Govt fails to explain Unga expenditure

Four Cabinet ministers and senior government officials yesterday took turns to justify President Lazarus Chakwera’s trip to the United Nations General Assembly (Unga) in New York, USA, but failed to disclose the cost of the trip.

During a joint press briefing in Lilongwe, the ministers and senior government officials, who took at least two hours making the justifications, said instead of zeroing in on the cost and the delegation size, the public should focus on the positive side of the trip for Malawi.

Minister Information and Digitisation Gospel Kazako, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nancy Tembo, Minister of Health Khumbize Chiponda and Minister of Education Agnes NyaLonje were accompanied by the President’s advisors and other officials.

Tembo, who led the briefing, highlighted the high-level meetings the President and Malawi delegation attended and the potential benefits to the country.

She said: “But it would be hard to provide the cost because the Ministry of Finance needed to consolidate the figures.”

What has drawn public interest in the Unga trip for the past week is the size of the delegation and number of days the President spent in New York at a time the country is facing acute economic challenges, including scarcity of foreign exchange, erratic fuel supply and long electricity load shedding hours.

Keeping under wraps the cost of the Unga trip is not unique as in 2015, former president Peter Mutharika faced similar criticism after picking a huge delegation at a time 2.8 million Malawians were in dire need of food aid.

Among the touted engagements in USA, apart from an address to the UN General Assembly, include Chakwera’s meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and the signing of the $350 million (about K350 billion) Millennium Challenge Corporation compact.

Chakwera left Malawi on September 12 and returned on October 4 2022 from the 77th Session of the Unga.

However, on his way he passed through Kenya while on his return he stopped by the United Arab Emirates where he held talks in Abhu Dhabi.