African President's Aunction Secondhand jets

 Whilst Africa's two newest presidents have clearly read the memo about global austerity, others have not.

Photo/Reuters

A month after taking office in April, Malawian President Joyce Banda decided to sell or lease a controversial $14m Dassault Falcon 900EX jet bought in 2009 by her predecessor, the late Bingu wa Mutharika. Banda also plans to lease a fleet of 60 government Mercedes cars, other symbols of a lavish lifestyle that jar many Malawians. She has been quick to appease criticism of Mutharika by donors, who had withdrawn aid to Malawi.
As part of new Senegalese President Macky Sall's house-cleaning, he will sell the spare presidential jet, the Pointe de Sangomar.
The previous president, Abdoulaye Wade, had the Boeing 727 repaired in 2007 at an estimated cost to the state of CFA17.5bn ($33m), and Senegal is now likely to recoup just a third of that.
But Sall will keep the Pointe de Sarène, an Airbus previously owned by former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, for which Wade shelled out CFA50bn, including the cost of an interior refit.
In South Africa, opposition parties were not amused after it was revealed in July, 2012, that the Defense Ministry intended to spend R2 billion on a Boeing 777 200 aircraft for President Jacob Zuma and his deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe.
The aircraft had a price tag of R1, 2 billion plus another R640 million to kit it out with new furnishings.
After canceling the deal, new defense minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula announced that "South Africa would be refunded a deposit paid to Boeing."
The country is expecting Boeing to give back the $10 million deposit it had paid.
In May, Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe's finance minister, decried a looting spree by a clique of the country's politicians when he said, "I am a government minister and earning $800 (per month). How do I buy some of the assets that we are buying? People are now buying private jets because of our diamonds".
Such penny-pinching shines bright next to the spending of some of Banda's and Sall's longer-standing peers.
The presidential families of Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville and Equatorial Guinea are still being pursued through the Parisian courts in the 'biens mal acquis' affair for luxury houses and cars bought in France with public funds

source: the africa report