Hichilema: We Will Sell ‘Extravagant’ Presidential Jet

President Hichilema has announced he wants to recover funds spent by his predecessor on a lavish presidential jet. The president has questioned how so much could ever be justified on a “piece of metal” when suitable replacements were available at a lower price and the money reinvested into the Zambian economy or systems of governance.

Edgar Lungu spent $193 million on the jet during his last months in office but the circumstances surrounding its purchase have long been subject to scrutiny. In fact, on Wednesday the country’s anti-corruption body announced it was launching an inquiry as to how the jet was bought at such an inflated price. The “standard price” for a Gulfstream 650 was $65 million, according to the agency, and yet the Zambian government paid three times that price.

Speaking on Tuesday at the 2022 Judicial Conference, held in Livingstone, Hichilema sought to distance himself from the “extravagance” of such purchases. “So why did we have to spend $193 million on that piece of metal? We could have looked after the judiciary… we could have also bought a lot of school desks for the kids, we could have also invested in one or two border posts,” the president noted.

The New Dawn administration have made a point of redistributing misused or laundered state funds back into projects that serve the Zambian people. Earlier in the year, for example, the K65 million confiscated from Faith Musonda was used to partially fund 2,232 university bursaries.

During his speech he indicated the funds generated through its sale could be reinvested, however it is not expected to be so simple. The Zambia Air Force has said that the jet counts as a military asset, not a public asset, which could hamper Hichilema’s hopes of a swift resolution.

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