Finance Minister Dr, Maxwell Mkwezalamba in the People’s Party government said US$15 million proceeds from the sale of Presidential Jet was used to buy drugs ,maize and support military for peacekeeping missions.
He said this in an exclusive interview on Sunday.
The Minister’s explanation come at a time when the civil society and the general public have been demanding answers on what happened to the proceeds amid suspicions that the money vanished.
“We used the money for the sale of the jet to buy maize and drugs. The lion’s share of about US$7million was used to support our Arm’s peacekeeping missions”, he said.
When asked why then that there are mounting suspicions that money vanished, the Minister said perhaps this was because the details were not factored in the national budget.
“You see, if you go into the national budget you will not find the expenditure breakdown so if they base their assumptions on this, then I can understand them. But it was impossible to factor in the details because the sale took place when the budget was already finalized”, he said.
Meanwhile the minister assured Malawians of good things to come citing stability of the local currency and containing of hunger in most parts of the country.
