Blantyre City South East lawmaker Sameer Suleman Monday claimed that the government has wasted hundreds of millions of Kwacha on journeymen who have accompanied President Lazarus Chakwera to China.
But Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda said no one had travelled to play in China, saying the people who had travelled to Beijing had gone there to serve Malawians.
Chakwera left the country on Sunday morning for Beijing, China, where he is to attend the Fourth Summit Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) in Beijing.
The meeting is scheduled for this week.
Suleman told Parliament that the Ministry of Finance alone had taken along over 10 officials and that the cost for air tickets for the Ministry of Finance alone was over K200 million.
“I have tickets here. Over K200 million [has been] spent on tickets, without [taking into consideration] allowances, without accommodation. I have got it here. One ministry sending over 10 officials, some of whom don’t even work for the ministry. How many officials have accompanied HE [His Excellency] to China?
“This is blowing money we are crying for, Madame Speaker,” Suleman said before he was interrupted by Speaker of Parliament Catherine Gotani Hara, who faulted him for not following the right procedures when bringing the question to the House.
According to Gotani Hara, she could not ask people to be responding to a question that had just come out of the blues.
And, on his part, Chimwendo Banda said the government side could not respond to the allegations by Suleman, saying it did not know who those people were and in what capacity they had gone to China.
“Up until he gives us those responses, we will tell him what they have gone to do to serve the people of Malawi. People don’t just travel for the sake of travelling.
“They travel to serve the country. And if he gives us [information] to say ‘this one was not supposed to go’, we will give him reasons why they are there.
So nobody should stand here just because they have the right [to do so]. Can they share information?
“Standing Orders are very clear. Give us the answers. Standing Order 14, 69; we will be able to call Capital Hill [the seat of the Malawi Government], tell them what these people are going to do. But coming here and insinuating that people have gone to play out there; that’s not fair. That’s an insinuation because we don’t know what is happening there. So, Madame, let him bring a question, the names; we are going to provide [information in terms of] what they have gone to do [in China],” Chimwendo Banda said.
Briefing reporters on departure on Sunday, Chakwera said he was going to sell his Agriculture, Tourism and Mining Strategy at the Beijing meeting.
“The meeting is expected to strengthen the cordial bilateral relations between Malawi and China and further enhance Malawi- China cooperation in various transport infrastructure projects. And we are certain that Malawi will benefit a lot from this summit,” Chakwera said.
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