4 envoys get foreign confirmation
Four out of the country’s 16 ambassador and high commissioner-designates received letters of confirmation from host countries by Monday this week.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is optimistic that the remaining ones would get their confirmation letters in due course.
Secretary for Foreign Affairs Lucky Sikwese disclosed this Monday in Lilongwe during the orientation of the country’s envoys.
Sikwese said, if everything depended on Malawi, the ambassador and high commissioner-designates would have been deployed to missions by the end of September this year.
“The process of having [an ambassador or high commissioner-designate posted to a mission] is dependent on host countries. Certain countries would fast track, others take time,” Sikwese said.
The countries that have, so far, sent letters of confirmation include the United Kingdom (UK), Mozambique and South Africa. The continental body, African Union, has also sent a letter of confirmation to the individual expected to represent the country.
The ministry challenged the designated envoys to keep channels of communication open.
‘If there is no coordinated way of engaging and communicating, you bring in confusion,” he said.
Joseph Mpinganjira, who will be heading to Berlin in Germany, said: “We are hoping the orientation will prepare us for the work we are expected to do.”
The other 15 appointees are Thomas Bisika, who is going to London in the UK; Justin Dzonzi, who is going to Geneva, Switzerland; Callista Mutharika, who is heading for Nairobi, Kenya; Mwayiwawo Polepole, who will be stationed in Harare, Zimbabwe; Agnes Chimbiri, who is going to New York in the United States (US).
Allan Chimtedza will go to Beijing, China; Charles Msosa is earmarked for the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, job; Kwacha Chisiza will represent the mother land in Tokyo, Japan; with Leonard Mengezi destined for New Delhi, India; Esme Chombo flying Malawi’s flag in Washington DC., the US; Andrew Kumwenda representing the country’s interests in Dar es Salam, Tanzania.
Others are Younos Karim, who is going to Kuwait; Magaret Kamoto, eyeing Lusaka, Zambia; Catherine Kunje, set to be working from Cairo in Egypt, and; Stella Ndau, who will be based in Pretoria, South Africa.
The orientation was conducted under the theme ‘Development Diplomacy: Catalyst for Sustainable Development’.
Mathews Kasanda is a journalist who holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from University of Malawi (The Polytechnic).
In 2015, Media Institute of Southern Africa awarded him the Best Print Media Education Journalist of the Year accolade.
He joined Times Group Newsroom in September 2019.
