BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—As Malawi President Peter Mutharika is set to leave for the 71st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) which begins at the UN Headquarters in the U.S. on Tuesday, 13 September, government has said only relevant people will be on the presidential entourage.
Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation minister Francis Katsaira only said the government learnt the hard way last year and no irrelevant people would be taken this year.
“The government has instructed the US embassy to verify with my ministry anyone applying for a visa to go to the US for the UN General Assembly and there is an instruction to all cabinet ministers to inform His Excellency the presidident any officials from their ministries who will be going to the UN,” said Katsaira.
“This year the government has put in place measures to address the shortfalls that happened last year, the government has instructed the US not to issue visas to the US for the UN without the authority of my ministry,” he added.
He said the President and other officials are expected to attend to attend to over 20 sideline meetings on trade and the economy among others.
In September 2015, President Peter Mutharika made headlines following his trip to the United Nations 70th General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, the United States of America.
Before departure for the assembly on September 21, Mutharika asked the country’s development partners, the private sector and well-wishers to assist Malawi avert hunger.
He sounded the alarm at a press briefing at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe where he described the current hunger Malawians are facing as the worst in many years. He said the number of people to face starvation is likely to increase as time goes.
At that time, Mutharika said 2.8 million people were in dire need of food aid and that the country had developed the 2015/2016 Food Insecurity Response Plan which required US$146.378 million (K81 billion).
Ironically, a few hours later, Mutharika left the country in a chartered jet for New York, taking on board over 100 individuals at a time the country was grappling with a number of challengers both socially and economically.
The bloated entourage sparked debate which saw the president spitting fire at the critics saying he can do without taxpayers’ money on travel in form of allowances.
He declared that he was already a millionaire when he returned to Malawi from the United States of America (USA) where he was a university professor.