By GIDEON NYENDWA
THE US$65 million presidential jet whose value was doubled by the installation of state of the art security features may not be sold at a profit, former Defence Minister George Mpombo has said.
The additional installations according to Israeli sources included missiles and self-defence systems.
Government sources told the Daily Nation that aircraft retrofit was recommended by the defence forces to avoid the shooting down of the presidential jet as was the case in Rwanda which resulted in genocide.
In 1994, a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira, both Hutus, was shot down with surface-to-air missiles as it prepared to land in Kigali, Rwanda.
The assassination set the Rwandan genocide in motion, one of the bloodiest events of the late 20th century.
The Zambian defence forces allegedly recommended that the new presidential jet be customised by adding defence and attack missiles following security concerns.
And Dr Mpombo said it was imperative that the Zambian government tightened security for the Head of State to avert any catastrophic situation.
Dr Mpombo also said the presidential jet was a necessity for Zambia and that the cost was also justified.
He said in an interview that modern presidential jets were fitted with sophisticated security systems which were expensive but necessary for the safety of the Head of State.
Dr Mpombo said plans by the new dawn government to sell the presidential jet were ill-timed as it would be hard to sell and would put the security of the Head of State in jeopardy.
He however maintained that the jet would be hard to sell even if the new government decided to go ahead with the planned sale.
“Selling the US$120 million Gulf Stream G650 Presidential jet profitably will be a difficult undertaking by the new dawn government as no one will want it as has been the case with many other countries that have tried to sell their jets,” said Dr Mpombo.
In 2020, the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador had made selling off the luxurious presidential jet a centre-piece of his austerity programme, but nobody wanted to buy the white elephant.
The Boeing Dreamliner was returned to Mexico after a year while on sale in the United States, where it piled up about US$1.5m in maintenance costs.
When contacted over the sale of the Presidential jet, Defence Minister, Ambrose Lufuma said Cabinet had not yet met to decide the fate of the jet.
Mr Lufuma said the sale of the Presidential jet needed to be approved by Cabinet.
UPND spokesperson, Cornelius Mweetwa however recently announced that plans to sell the jet had not changed.
The Gulf-Stream G650 was bought at a cost of US$65 million through an Israeli company ELBIT but that the price increased to US$120 milllion after the installation of a security system.
