GOVERNMENT TO PROBE KIA LIFTGATE

The Minister of Defense and Homeland Security Richard Chimwendo-Banda has said the government will probe into reports that Malawi paid about K36 million to a sham Kenyan firm to install a new lift in the control tower at Kamuzu International Airport (KIA).

The matter follows contributions made to the Transport Committee of Parliament by the Chitipa South Member of Parliament Werani Chilenga saying the parliament in 2014 and 2015 allocated resources towards the purchase of a new lift but there is silence on the matter.

Responding to Chilenga’s concerns, Chimwendo-Banda who is also the leader of the house expressed that the matter was critical stressing government will dig deeper into the issue.

Meanwhile, in February 2017, the then Minister of Justice Samuel Tembenu admitted in Parliament that in 2011 the government signed a contract for the supply and installation of a lift in the control tower following the malfunction of the old lift.

Tembenu said the contract was between the Department of Civil Aviation and a Kenyan company, however, the information he shared did not indicate that the company had local directors.