German Development Minister Müller has been forced to cancel a trip to Namibia and delay his return to Germany.
The cause of the disruption was yet another government plane breakdown, the latest in a series that saw Chancellor Angela Merkel unable to attend the opening of the November G20 summit in Argentina because of technical problems, and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz stranded in Indonesia after rodents gnawed through the cables of his plane while he was attending International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings on the archipelago in October.
The minister decried the incidents as “enormously negative symbolic effect for the high-tech nation of Germany.”
“These failures must come to an end.”
Müller was scheduled to depart Malawi on Monday when his Bombardier Global 5000 was unable to take off due to a defective pressure valve.
He was eventually able to continue on to Zambia on a commercial flight but has been stranded in Zambia since.
Although he met with President Edgar Lungu and toured a local copper mine, he was unable to travel to Namibia where he was scheduled to speak with leaders about Germany’s historic responsibility regarding its colonial past in the country.
Originally scheduled to fly back to Germany from Namibia late Wednesday evening, it is now unclear when Müller will be able to fly.
A government spokeswoman said he is expected to return on Friday.
German air force mechanics have arrived in Malawi to repair the minister’s plane, yet they, too, have been forced to bide their time as the replacement valve that was sent their way from Germany is stranded as well in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Could such stories be a justification why we re buying that expensive presidential jet when challenger is fully functional. No learn from Germany. These guys have money but cannot waste it the way we do in Zambia just to carry around one incompetent leader – meno-meno. Talk of jet fuel prices in Zambia that beat none in the region!!!!
Disaster!!!!
I’m thinking the selection of words is important when reporting. Work hard to find another word for Stranded that can bring out the meaning from the news contents.
Yes, EDWARD. A word like marooned, for example? Or delayed? Anyways, the whole story is an entertaining comedy of errors.
Awkward ???? tell the investors to fix it for a favor!
We must blame Lungu for the failure of this plane to function.
No? No one to blame it on the President?
We should have given him a lift. Poor Europeans we need to help them in these difficult times.
The German’s supporting their own that plane is powered by two two BMW-Rolls-Royce BR710s
Jay Jay that plane in built in Canada and engines in UK, BMW only owns Rolls Royce, also if the minister is stuck in Zambia why didn’t he take a commercial flight to Namibia, then by the time he finished his work in Namibia the aircraft is repaired. good time management NOT.
As you have stated BMW “only” owns Rolls Royce…so who owns the engines? You have no idea how many components go into that engine and the jobs it creates for German manufacturing …I am surprised you are even arguing with me on this.
5.1 Cosmos, maybe not so easy to find a seat on a commercial flight to Namibia via RSA. But at least he made an effort to visit Zambia.
That is how important Zambia is to its friends, and trib.als will not like me for saying this. They dream and seek evil and devil.
If it were ECLs Plane stranded like that the tri-bal party followers would have showered Edgar with unpalatables as if he knows anything about planes. Please let us give ECL a break to do his mandate given to him by the majority of Zambians. Zambia ought to graduate from primitive politics and embrace ingenious debates and not just skewed biased and insolent debates.
They need to follow Chagwa’s example: buy the latest presidential jet.
Western governments only do strategic procurement ..they dont go to Russia and purchase custom built VIP planes by former KGB spys. Their govts build products that benefit their people
*..buy..
This is embarrassing to say the least. Germany is a powerful country economically. There must be serious negligence somewhere in the system. Not a good example to emulate.
I have always said these things happen even in the most advanced economies. A bridge was washed away between Mulenga and Ndeke townships in Kitwe and all I read were negatives against the government from the haters. At the same time a newly constructed flyover in Florida collapsed causing fatalities but the haters had to find excuses as if they were involved in construction of the collapsed bridge.
We should not just say these things happen – NO. Why should they happen. People die in USA because of natural calamities and in Zambia we should say lets also die because things happen and yet our case is that of carelessness and stupidity. A small bridge collapse and you have all irrelevant Ministers visiting the site with no solutions leaving engineers behind. Just because of allowances. We are just fools. No. Lets do our best and not copy and paste what the West are doing. It does not make sense to see danger and not address it locally just because in USA such things happen.
Disaster thinking!!!