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By Deogratias Mmana: Details have emerged that the two 60-capacity MA600 aircrafts that the government purchased from China in 2022 have been grounded at Chileka International Airport because there is no pilot to fly them, among other factors. The planes used to fly soldiers to the Democratic Republic of Congo for peacekeeping missions. We have it on good authority that the contract for the pilot who used to fly them ended. Experts said flying these two places requires intensively trained pilots. Sources said the grounding of the planes has been necessitated by lack of support from the government to train pilots for them. The sources further said out of the $51 million (K89 billion) cost price of the planes, the government is yet to pay $42 million (K73 billion). “A proposal was made to make them commercial regional flights and one of them has been registered. That requires Malawi Civil Aviation officials to go to China where the planes were made to study them. “There is also a need for an insurance cover and there is a quotation of $186,652.37 per year and the quotation is gathering dust,” a source said. We sent a questionnaire to the Principal Secretary for the Ministry of Defence, James Chiusiwa, asking him to comment on the issues surrounding the planes. He said: “I suggest you check with the Malawi Defence Force Commander.” We took the same questionnaire to MDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Frank Kayanula whose answer was: “We cannot comment on this one.” Asked why the government is not settling the payment, Treasury spokesperson Williams Banda said government was organising a meeting with the MDF management to understand the procurement of the two planes. Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency (Csat) Executive Director Willy Kambwandira described the purchase of the planes as “a purely textbook case of poor planning and wasteful expenditure.” “It is beyond belief that some people in government could sit down and procure such a high value asset without ensuring human capital to operate and maintain them,” Kambwandira said. He described the purchase as “a classic case of misalignment between asset acquisition and operational readiness”. “It clearly shows weak foresight, mismanagement, lack of integration and governance gaps in strategic planning. “Moving forward there is need for a forensic audit, and investigation to establish how the aircrafts were procured and hold individuals involved in the deal accountable,” he said. Government got the aircrafts from China National Aero Technology Import and Export Corporation. The planes landed at Chileka Airport, Blantyre in July 2022. When receiving them, MDF management said the two aircrafts would help the government cut costs for VVIP trips and in transporting Malawi’s troops for peacekeeping missions to different regions of conflict.
