Admarc has revived the position of deputy chief executive officer and appointed Aubrey Sumbuleta to the post outside its approved establishment, three years after scrapping it to cut costs.
The move raises questions about financial prudence at the struggling State grain trader, which cut its workforce from about 4 000 to 1 585 in 2023 to contain salary costs, but is now adding another layer of senior management.
In a letter dated Aug ust 4 2026 and referenced ADM/ EO/8/2026, Board Chairperson Gray Nyandule Phiri conveyed the board’s ratification of Sumbuleta’s
appointment at Grade AL 2.
Seen by Weekend Nation, the letter says government appointed Sumbuleta on a three-year fixed-term contract, renewable subject to performance targets to be agreed in writing with the board before its 129th meeting.
It says the remuneration package “shall be consolidated,” with salary and other conditions to be agreed upon acceptance of the offer, and that the signed contract and targets must be submitted to government for vetting and final approval.
Copies were sent to the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, the Comptrol ler of Statutory Corporations, and the secretaries for Agriculture and Human Resource Management and Development.
Comptroller of Statutory Corporations Stuart Ligomeka confirmed the post was created on a non-establishment basis and does not appear on Admarc’s approved staff structure.
“Such positions are created on a need basis, which we have seen at Admarc,” he said, acknowledging the corporation’s financial woes, but arguing it also needed to improve performance to meet its commercial and social mandates.
“My office is fully aware of the developments at Admarc and we are providing direction and oversight,” he said.
Parliamentary Committee on Commissions , Statutory Corporations and State Enterprises chairperson Sylvester Ayuba James said the committee was not consulted.
“Our committee is not aware of any such plans as there was no consultation or notice made to the committee by anyone,” he said, adding the committee will summon the board to explain the appointment.
He said the committee has pushed for lean structures in struggling parastatals.
“We have always stood for the leanest management staff in public institutions, particularly those that are financially struggling, like Admarc, so that they can get out of the doldrums,” James said.
“The decision to reintroduce this position, therefore, runs counter to this financial prudence philosophy and flies right in the face of logic.”
Executive director Centre for Social Accountability and
Transparency Willy Kambwandira in an interview yesterday described the development as a glaring expression of the culture of impunity that has captured our parastatals.
“This is a clear confirmation that these institutions have become reserves for rewarding political loyalty at taxpayers’ expense. A company surviving on government bailouts cannot justify bypassing its approved establishment and adding executive costs while pleading financial distress.
“Such decisions expose auster ity pronouncements as empty rhetoric . We expect Parliament to intervene, demand the authorisation, recruitment records and full contractual costs and ensure accountability for any irregularities. Taxpayers cannot continue subsidising institutional failure and political patronage.
Admarc’s 2023 functional review shows the deputy CEO post was abolished, leaving a CEO and directors for finance, operations and corporate services.
The appointment comes as Admarc’s finances worsen. In March 2026, it told Parliament it needs K144 billion to operate in 2026/27, but was allocated K60 billion, leaving an K84 billion gap it planned to fill by borrowing about K80 billion at an estimated K10 billion interest cost.
Funding releases have lagged. By February 2026, it had received only K5.5 billion of its K53.7 billion allocation for 2025/26.
Of the K60 billion budgeted for maize purchases in 2026/27, only K5 billion had been released by May 31, according to spokesperson Theresa Chapulapula.
The corporation also faces a K25 billion compensation bill for 3 282 employees retrenched in 2023, after the Industrial Relations Court ruled in November 2024 that the dismissals were unfair and unlawful.
In January 2025, sheriffs froze its bank accounts and seized assets to recover part of the judgment debt.
We e k e n d Na t i o n s e n t a questionnaire to the Office of the President and Cabinet on whether the post’s creation and Sumbuleta’s contract had been vetted. There was no response by press time.
Phiri, the board chairperson who signed the appointment letter, said he could not comment because he was no longer with the parastatal and was outside Malawi.
