President Lazarus Chakwera has relocated to Mtunthama state residence in the capital Lilongwe as the Kamuzu Palace is under renovation.

Presidential Executive Assistant, Sean Kampondeni, was speaking during the statehouse brief where he said president Chakwera moved out last week Thursday.

Kampondeni said Kamuzu Palace together with the rest of the state residences was due for maintenance work but unfortunately the previous administrations could not do the maintenance works despite allocating a budget for the same.

“Kamuzu Palace was due for maintenance work which is currently being done there. All these were included in the State House Residences Vote for the national budget,” said Kampondeni.

Responding to questions, Presidential Press Secretary Brian Banda said Chakwera will be at Mtunthama Residence for approximately one month.

Banda, however, could not reveal the name of the contractor doing the work and the type of renovations taking place arguing that the issue borders on the president’s security.

“This matter is bordering on the security of the head of state as such I cannot give more details, however, the renovation works will use part of the K6.5 billion allocated to the state residence and it will be completed in a period of three weeks to one month,” said Banda.

Banda added that Vice President Saulos Chilima is also yet to relocate to his official residence because his house in Lilongwe needs a lot of maintenance.