Malawi President Peter Mutharika has quashed assertions that he went on a honeymoon in the US with his newly-wed, Getrude Maseko.
The president has just returned on week-long tour to the United States where he was among the 49 African heads of state to attend the first ever US-Africa summit which US president Barack Obama hosted.
Mutharika responded to the issue in his opening remarks at a press conference in Lilongwe—the first since he took office in May.
“I just want you, and the nation to know that contrary to what others kept fuelling behind, I, together with my wife, didn’t go to the US on a honeymoon. We are yet to,” said the president.
Mutharika explained the trip was a tight schedule throughout; even joking that he did not even have the time to buy himself a necktie.
“I didn’t go there for that, or for shopping. The summit was a very serious one and I had so many side events to attend as well. It was meeting after meeting; just as it has been indicated in the communiqué. Because this other day I heard that some delegates from this country could not attend a session there were sent; spending all their stay shopping. What’s wrong with us Malawians?” he wondered.
He added he could not have time for a honeymoon, especially now that the United States sees Africa as an opportunity.
“The US no longer sees the continent as a problem; rather, we are now real stakes for their own trade growth.” The president remarked.
