If
Malawi Banda
Sold Jet to
Buy DPKO
Equipment,
DPKO Says It
Doesn't Know
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
19 -- UN
Peacekeeping
and its
Contingent-Owned
Equipment arm,
already under
fire in South
Sudan for at a
minimum
mislabeling
weapons and
transporting
them by road
in violation
of
stated policy,
is now
embroiled in a
controversy in
Malawi.
It
is reported
that:
The
government of
Malawi
President
Joyce Banda is
facing
pressure to
reveal
documents
related to
proceeds from
the sale of a
presidential
jet to British
Virgin Islands
company Bohnox
Enterprises.
President
Banda
maintained her
earlier stance
during a
recent press
conference
in the
capital,
Lilongwe. “I
was the one
who said,
‘Let’s sell
the jet,’ but
I didn’t do it
alone," she
explained. "I
presented the
issue before
the Cabinet
meeting where
we agreed that
we should use
the money for
buying maize.
We also agreed
to buy
military
equipment for
the
peacekeeping
mission in
DRC, buying
medicine and
contributing
to the farm
input subsidy
program.”
Jessie
Kabwila is the
spokesperson
for the
leading
opposition
party in
parliament,
Malawi
Congress
Party. She
says the
component of
trading
off does not
hold water
because the
Public
Financial
Management Act
does not allow
barter as a
form of trade.
She says that
for claims of
funding the
United Nations
Peace Keeping
Mission to be
viable, the
government
should produce
an invoice
claiming the
refund of the
money
from the U.N.
and another
transaction
from the U.N.
acknowledging
the
same to the
Malawi
government.
This
was reported
by Voice of
America,
on whose
Broadcasting
Board of
Governors US
Secretary of
State John
Kerry serves
(and which, in
full
disclosure,
tried to get
Inner City
Press thrown
out of the UN,
in a
complaint
it filed with
the UN's now
spokesperson
Stephane
Dujarric,
click here to
view).
And
so on March
19, Inner City
Press asked
the office of
the UN
Spokesperson:
Inner
City Press: I
wanted to ask
you, in
Malawi,
there’s some
controversy
about the
President,
Joyce Banda,
selling the
presidential
jet. And her
response in a
press
conference was
to say,
in terms of
where the
funds from the
sale of the
jet went, was
to say
— we have
agreed to buy
military
equipment for
the
peacekeeping
mission in the
DRC, in which
they are part
of the Force
Intervention
Brigade. So,
the opposition
party has said
that for that
to check
out at all,
there would
have to be
some kind of
an invoice
from DPKO
(Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations)
showing that
the funds were
used for that
and also…
whether the
equipment was
bought for the
Force
Intervention
Brigade. I
wanted to
know, is the
UN or DPKO
aware of any
use by Malawi
of proceeds
from the sale
of the
presidential
jet to fund
equipment for
the Force
Intervention
Brigade
in DRC?
Deputy
Spokesman: I’m
not personally
aware of that,
but I’ll have
to
check with our
colleagues in
peacekeeping.
Yes?
[The
Deputy
Spokesman
later shared
the following
information
from the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations:
“All
troop-contributing
countries
(TCCs) are
responsible
for procuring
and carrying
their own
equipment,
when their
personnel are
deployed to UN
Peacekeeping
Missions. The
TCC does not
inform the UN
about how and
where it
procures such
equipment.”]
Does
this added in
answer resolve
the
controversy?
Watch this
site.
, 
