The picture showing President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika stranded at the airport while en route to Malta for Commonwealth heads of state summit has attracted mixed reactions on the social media with others describing it as an embarrassment to the nation.

Others have accused the former President Dr. Joyce Banda of being behind the embarrassment for selling the Presidential Jet during her tenure.

Writing on his official Facebook page, private lawyer and critic to the President Allan Z Ntata has said he is not embarrassed with the picture.

“Those feeling sorry for the president, and declaring their embarrassment at being Malawian because the president has to travel on commercial flights are missing the point. I am neither embarrassed to see this picture, nor am I sorry for myself or our president.

“A competent president would implement policies to improve the economy so that his government can operate in fiscal comfort, thereby ensuring that the question of whether or not he should by a private jet is a non-issue. I am not embarrassed to be a Malawian when I see the president humbling himself,” wrote Ntata.

He added: “I have seen David Cameron travelling on the London Underground. I have also seen many Malawians praise Paul Kagame and Uluru Kenyatta for humble acts of travelling modestly. Yet today, because it is Mutharika, they are embarrassed. What hypocrisy!

“The reason this president’s longing for a private jet is a matter of debate is because while he is failing to deliver on the promises he made to Malawians, he still thinks Malawians should pay for him to travel in luxury what they are sleeping in blackouts and their relatives are dying in hospitals that have no food, no medicine and no medical equipment.”

The fact of the matter is that he should not even be travelling to these summits at all if it is embarrassing for to travel. He should stay at home, and work to improve the economy.