“JET MONEY DID NOT VANISH, IT WAS USED FOR OTHER PURPOSES,” SAYS EVANGELIST MPINGANJIRA.

Minister of information and PP Vice President for the South, evangelist Brown James Mpinganjira, has dispelled the media reports that the money gotten from the sale of the jet had vanished.

Last Sunday, a local paper had written that proceeds from the jet sales had vanished into thin air as they could not be traced in government accounts at the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM). The allegations made Malawians to take to the social media and radio phone-in programs to express their displeasure with the way government has conducted business on the jet issue.

However, in an interview the Minister of information who also doubles as government spokesperson has disclosed that the money did not vanish as it was reported but was used for other purposes.

According to Mpinganjira, some of the proceeds were used to procure drugs in hospitals whereas some were used for the farm inputs subsidy programme and other proceeds were used for the peace-keeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as well as buying some security equipments.

Not long ago, government had as well indicated that proceeds from the jet sales had been used to buy maize to avert a looming hunger situation. The international media had eventually hailed president Banda for taking the bold move of selling the jet to buy food for her people.

Controversies over the plane started emerging when it was discovered that the President was chartering the same plane she had claimed to have disposed off.

Even after that announcement, questions have arisen as to which drugs did the government buy with the money for there have been problems associated with the shortage of drugs in hospitals up to a point where staff from the Kamuzu central hospital were forced to march to Parliament to present their petition to government asking them to act on the situation.