During today’s parliamentary session, Sameer Suleman, Member of Parliament for Blantyre City South East, made startling allegations that the Malawi government squandered a staggering 4.5 billion kwacha on President Lazarus Chakwera’s recent trip to Germany, where he was notably spotted riding a bicycle, sparking controversy over the extravagance of the expenditure.
Suleman raised these concerns today in parliament when he was given a chance to ask a question on a ministerial statement delivered by Minister of Tourism Vera Kamtukule.
Suleman condemned the president, stating that leaders should lead by example in promoting local tourism rather than promoting tourism in other countries during their travels.
According to Suleman, the president should have promoted Malawi by engaging in such activities locally instead of abroad.
“It is very sad that our leaders are not leading by example. We need to sell our country, but recently a lot of billions, K4.5 billion, was spent by our president going to ride a bicycle in Germany to sell Germany. Instead of riding that bicycle here,” he explained.
Responding to Suleman, Speaker of the National Assembly Catherine Gotani Hara cautioned Suleman against involving the president in parliamentary discussions, urging him to focus on the matter at hand without dragging the president into the debate.
