Spokesperson for the ministry, Rejoice Shumba, says there is also resistance from some recalled diplomats to come back home for some personal reasons.

According to Shumba, out of 168 newly appointed diplomats, almost 70 have been posted whilst almost 40 of the 70 recalled have come back home.

“The ministry needs finances to recall and post the diplomats. The ministry is waiting for Treasury to give us the finances so that we can complete the process.

“Implementation of the process is very challenging because of COVID19 restrictions which some of the hosting countries have put in place. It is difficult, for instance, to ship personal goods of the recalled diplomats,” she said.

Internal relations lecturer at the Blantyre International University, Chimwemwe Tsitsi, says diplomats are very important for national development, saying their offices need to be filled all the time.

“They represent visibility for the country and at the same time they are the ones who gather intelligence from those countries concerning various opportunities that Malawi can actually realize from the bilateral relations that Malawi has with those respective countries,” he said.

Government already trained all the appointed diplomats.