Malawi: President Chakwera Skips AU Summit

By Joseph Dumbula [caption id="attachment_104520" align="alignnone" width="1200"] President Chakwera[/caption] Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera has said he will not attend the African Union (AU) summit which will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from February 18 to 19, 2023 in a move widely believed to be aimed at saving resources. However, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the President has ‘other equally important national commitments during the same period, including the Cabinet’s ongoing preparations for the Budget Meeting of Parliament,’. The statement says the 67-year-old President has chosen to delegate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nancy Tembo, to represent him at the summit. In July last year, Chakwera also cancelled plans to attend the meeting for AU meeting for Heads of Regional Economic Communities. However, he attended the last AU summit in February 2022. The Malawi leader who is usually criticized for undertaking numerous foreign trips is yet to travel this year and announced stringent austerity measures including a reducing in travel.