By ADRIAN MWANZA
THE president has powers to sell the presidential jet if he so wishes because there is no law that bars him from doing so, says constitutional lawyer John Sangwa.
Mr Sangwa said the issue of the presidential jet was just a matter of common sense and that if the president really wanted the plane to be sold he would do so because he had unlimited power that would enable him get rid of the item.
He said there was nothing wrong with selling the plane because some countries like Mexico and Malawi experienced the same issue.
Mr Sangwa said that former Malawi president Joyce Banda sold the country’s plane because it was costly to run and that there was need to get rid of it so was a similar case in Mexico which faced a similar challenge.
He said that as long as President Hichilema followed the right procedure then he and his cabinet can tailor a law that can allow them to dispose the jet.
Mr Sangwa said unlike reports that the Gulf Stream G-650 Presidential jet could not be sold as it was a classified military equipment, the plane could be sold and that the problem was that the procedure would be hectic to conclude.
He said government could make a decision and pass a law to ensure that the plane was sold using the right channel.
Mr Sangwa asked what was illegal about selling the plane if the government thought that it could not afford to maintain it.
He also wondered what could have happened to the Challenger 604-Jet which was being used by former president Edgar Lungu and was acquired in 1991.
Mr Sangwa said the former head of state was the one that purchased the plane.
‘’Really it’s a straight forward issue and if the president really wants to sell the plane then he should just talk to his cabinet let them pass a law that will make it legal to sell the machinery,’’ he said.
He said it really was up to the president and his team to decide the way forward and not the debate that it could not be sold because it belonged to the military
