Botswana govt turns down Joyce Banda jet ride

It never gets more embarrassing than this. The Botswana Government has turned down a request from the Malawi Government to allow State President Mrs Joyce Banda get a ride in the state owned presidential jet, Face of Malawi can reveal.

Documents in our possession show that President Joyce Banda has received an invitation to attend a summit for Africa leaders in the United States of America. The trip is currently being organised by the authorities in Malawi. Our impeccable sources say following the invitation, the Malawi Government sent an official request begging the Botswana Government to allow the Malawi leader, Mrs Banda to hitch hike with his counterpart, Mr Ian Seretse Khama to the USA.

The Botswana government has since sent a letter of regret to the Malawian authorities. It must be put on record that President Ian Seretse Khama is a bachelor. It is not known if the First Gentleman, Richard Banda was going to travel with his wife to the USA. This is the lowest embarrassment Malawi has reached in recent years under the leadership of President Joyce Banda.

Whilst the Malawian leader is busy embarrassing herself going about begging for air transport, the country has a state of the art official presidential jet that President Banda has put up for sale in order to please western donors. President Banda claimed she wanted to sell the jet in order to raise money to assist poor people in the southern African country. Following the decision, President Banda has been seen using commercial flights on her official trips jumping from one plane to another.

However, sources close to the State House and the Office of President and Cabinet in Lilongwe say that the president has been begging the hosting countries to provide her with transport whenever invitations arrive. Good examples are her most recent trips to Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. Both countries at Mrs Banda’s request provided her with jets to allow the Malawi leader and her delegation honour invitations to these respective countries.

President Joyce Banda is the first of Malawi’s four presidents to be begging from fellow leaders for air transport since Malawi attained her independence from former colonial masters Britain in 1964. The presidential jet that President Banda has put up for sale was bought by her predecessor, late Professor Bingu Wa Mutharika to preserve Malawian dignity and symbolise it’s aspirations while also saving costs on the chartering of jets for presidential trips. – People’s Party Confidential