Africa-Press – Malawi. Malawi Vice President Jane Ansah is set to spend close to MK2 billion — approximately US$1.1 million at prevailing foreign exchange rates — on a private visit to the United Kingdom, this is according to official documents seen by Malawi24. The documents indicate that the trip is scheduled to run from 26 December 2025 to 10 January 2026.
The documents, which were initially confirmed as authentic by the Office of the Vice President before the office later backtracked and described them as fake, have since been verified by Malawi24 as genuine.
According to the documents, the visit is primarily intended to allow the Vice President to attend and celebrate the 80th birthday of her husband, Bishop Dr Joseph Addo Ansah, who is based in the United Kingdom. Although classified as a private visit, the memorandum states that the Vice President will continue executing official duties “as required” during the period.
A formal notification addressed to the Secretary to the Treasury and signed by Secretary to the Vice President Eric Yesaya places the total estimated cost of the trip at MK1,962,683,226.38, calculated using parallel market foreign exchange rates due to limited access to foreign currency through commercial banks.
The cost breakdown shows that the Vice President’s first-class air ticket alone is budgeted at MK118,050,679.44, while business-class tickets for eight officials amount to MK478,817,176.94. This is despite government placing a moratorium on business travel for other officials including government ministers and other officials at lower levels such as the Veep’s assistants.
Premium economy tickets for seven officials account for a further MK168,202,300.
Daily subsistence allowances form a significant portion of the budget, with MK105,300,000 allocated for the Vice President and MK424,320,000 for accompanying officials. Security personnel and personal assistants are budgeted at MK278,460,000, while incidentals such as internal travel, conference packages and car hire services cost MK408,765,000. An additional MK86,068,070 is allocated for warm clothes allowance.
The Vice President is expected to travel with a 16-member delegation comprising senior administrative officials, protocol officers, accounting officers, security personnel, aides-de-camp and personal assistants.
The delegation list includes Mr Bona Mjojo, identified as a Special Adviser to the Vice President. It has been established that Mjojo is the Vice President’s blood brother, raising questions about the inclusion of close family members on a trip funded through public resources.
The documents also show duplication of roles within the delegation, including two personal assistants, multiple accounting officers and more than one aide-de-camp, alongside an extensive security detail for a visit classified as private.
In addition, the delegation includes an individual listed as a “Special Guest of the Vice President”, with no official government role specified in the documents. Malawi24 understands the individual to be a personal friend of the Vice President, whose travel and allowances are also covered under the same publicly funded budget.
The scale of the expenditure has drawn attention at a time when thousands of children across Malawi continue to learn under trees due to a shortage of classroom blocks, particularly in rural areas. Lessons in such settings are routinely disrupted by rain, heat and strong winds.
By comparison, popular musician Patience Namadingo recently constructed a fully serviced school block at Wataka in Machinga District at a cost of approximately MK169 million. Based on that benchmark, the amount budgeted for the Vice President’s UK trip could finance the construction of at least 11 similar schools, potentially removing thousands of learners from tree-shade classrooms.
The expenditure also comes as public hospitals across the country continue to face persistent shortages of essential medicines, with patients frequently told to purchase drugs such as antibiotics, painkillers and maternity supplies from private pharmacies or go without treatment altogether.
The planned foreign visit follows a series of domestic trips undertaken by the Vice President in recent months, which have themselves attracted attention due to their frequency and associated costs.
Efforts to obtain further clarification from the Office of the Vice President on the inclusion of family members, duplicated roles, a special guest, and the justification for the scale of public spending were unsuccessful by the time of publication.
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