The Office of the Vice-President says Vice-President Saulos Chilima will take 15 delegates from his office to a United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Council Forum for Financing Development in New York.

The statement from the Office of the Vice-President comes days after a purported list showed that he would lead a 41-member team to the United States of America.

The Vice-President’s press aide Pilirani Phiri said in a statement yesterday that President Lazarus Chakwera delegated Chilima to represent him and lead the Malawi delegation from the Ministry of Finance as well as other sectors at the four-day forum from April 25 to  28 2022.

He said: “The Vice-President’s office will have an entourage of 15.”

Phiri: The Vice-President’s office will have an entourage of 15

The explanation comes after our sister newspaper Nation on Sunday, in its edition of April 3 2022, reported that out of the 41-member delegation, taxpayers would spend over K216 million to fund the trip. The paper also quoted Ministry of Foreign Affairs sources as indicating that the delegation would be in the US for about two weeks.

The leaked list, which did not indicate its source or date, showed that out of the 41-member delegation, 26 were purportedly from the Office of the Vice-President and included Chilima’s special assistants, security officers, director of administration and Principal Secretary (PS), among others.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Phiri emphasised that the number as indicated in the statement yesterday was that of officials in the Vice-President’s office only.

He, however, declined to comment further on the earlier leaked list of the delegates, saying: “This is our statement. I am not commenting on anything that the Office of the Vice-President did not issue.”

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs source said the earlier leaked list that circulated on social media was not a final or approved one.

Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs spokesperson Taurai Samuel Banda justified the delegation, saying there are several meetings expected to take place requiring their participation.

While in the US, Chilima is expected to meet the current chairperson of the forum and hold  several meetings with the acting representative of the Office of Least Developed Countries and the UN Development Programme global administrator.

The Vice-President will also make a keynote statement at a High Level Leaders Dialogue on Green Climate Resilience Bonds organised by the United Nations Capital Development Fund.

This will be the Vice-President’s second foreign trip since the court-sanctioned Fresh Presidential Election held on June 23 2020 in which he partnered with Chakwera as his running mate on the nine-political party Tonse Alliance ticket.

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