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As debate continues over President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika’s bloated trip to the just ending United Natation General Assembly (UNGA) which saw money amounting to over MK300 million being spent, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the country have asked President Mutharika to respond to concerns relating to the trip.
The request comes amid media reports that President Mutharika was accompanied by 115 delegates to the UNGA and that he chartered Bombardier BD700-1A10 Global Express registration Number OE-IGS owned by UK Private Jet Charter to Dubai at an exorbitant price.
The development was confirmed by the United States Embassy in Lilongwe that it 115 granted 115 visas for Malawi delegation to UN but Mutharika only approved 18.
According US ambassador to Malawi, Virginia Parmer while not confirming the number of visas issued, she said the UN only gave six passes to the Malawi delegations.
The development means the remaining 109 delegates of whom most of them were Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) followers were there just to enjoy themselves at the expense of poor Malawians.
Writing on his official Facebook Page one of the Human Right Activist, Billy Mayaya said civil society demands that he [President Mutharika] responds to concerns relating to the UNGA trip where he claimed that he was only aware of 18 people accompanying him.
“We want to demand accountability for his lack of inaction on the matter. We demand to know the source of the financing and a refund of the misappropriated monies as we believe they could have been directed to improving service delivery in key sectors such as health, education and agriculture,” wrote Mayaya.
Mayaya also accused the DPP regime of giving empty answers regarding the trip.
“The Government’s responses have been unsatisfactory as they have ranged from lies implicating development partners as financiers of the trip to bumbling that procedures were observed!,” he added.
