Malawi Government has queried the completeness of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) inquiry report into the Public Service Pension Trust Fund acquisition of Amaryllis Hotel in Blantyre without interviewing some key stakeholders.
Minister of Information and Communications Technology Shadric Namalomba in an interview yesterday mentioned former Secretary to the President and Cabinet (SPC) Colleen Zamba and the seller, Yusuf Investment Limited, as key entities who should have been interviewed.
PAC closed its investigation into the multi-billion kwacha deal on March 30 2026 after receiving communication from lawyers representing Zamba that she would not make it at the appointed time because she was receiving medical treatment abroad.
But in a written response, Namalomba said that while the government is not blocking the presentation of the report in Parliament, the report remains partial because crucial witnesses did appear before PAC.
He said: “The government has no objection whatsoever to the timely presentation of the report once the committee has concluded its work in a thorough and complete manner.
“However, we are deeply concerned that neither the seller of the property in question nor the former Secretary to the President, Madam Zamba, both of whom are central to this investigation, have appeared before the committee.”
Namalomba said such an ‘anomaly’ is serious and risks negatively skewing the results of the investigation, insisting, the government’s position is that no crucial witness is left unsummoned.
He said President Peter Muthariaka wants the truth, urging PAC to summon all remaining witnesses without delay, present the report once that is done, and let the law take its course
“If the committee fails to summon and hear from Madam Zamba and the property seller, the report would be fundamentally incomplete and its findings potentially flawed,”insisted Namalomba.
But PAC chairperson Steven Malondera in an interview yesterday said the committee, which has 23 members, discussed all those who did not appear and unanimously agreed to proceed to report.
He said: “The committee had to go through the report line by line, sentence by sentence, page by page and chapter by chapter. We had such an exercise on Tuesday [March 31 2026] from 8:30 am to 5:15pm.
“A [committee] member proposed adoption of the report and it was seconded. That marked the end of the exercise by the committee at committee level. What is remaining is presentation to Parliament.”
The Lilongwe Nyanja legislator said after presentation the onus will be on Parliament to “reject the report or adopt the report”.
In a letter dated March 31 to the Clerk of Parliament (CoP), Zamba’s lawyer George Kadzipatike stated that the State commenced a criminal case against her classified as Criminal Case Number 266 of 2026 on charges of abuse of office in connection with the sale of Amaryllis Hotel.
He said the information was brought to the attention of the CoP’s office for the information of PAC that besides her absence on account of her attendance to medical treatment outside Malawi, Zamba was also not under obligation to attend hearing on March 30 March 2026 because the issue at hand was in court.
Commenting on the issue, governance analyst George Chaima said in a written response yesterday that leaving out any key persons would undermine the whole essence, purpose and credibility of the inquiry, leaving its legitimacy inutile.
“The report remains flimsy and incomplete. Presenting it at this stage is sabotage to justice and truth exposing a clear taint of corruption,” he said.
Public expenditure tracking expert Mabvuto Bamusi said the report is incomplete and it presents an incomplete accountability process until and unless Yusuf limiter appears before the inquiry.
“We have heard from the buyer. We need to hear from the seller too. PAC will appear to protect Zamba and Yusuf Investments if the Committee insists on presenting the report in its current form,” he said.
In a separate interview, Centre for Social Transparency and Accountability executive director Willy Kambwandira said the growing pushback against the tabling of the report underscores a serious credibility deficit.
“At best, it reflects poor investigative rigour and at worst, it feeds a legitimate perception of selective witness protection and possible self-interest among PAC members which undermines the credibility of the report, and public trust in Parliamentary oversight,”he said.
In a statement yesterday, the Human Rights Defenders Coalition urged PAC to still summon Zamba, Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation Joseph Mwanamvekha, Secretary to the Treasury Cliff Chiunda, Yusuf Investments and National Bank of Malawi, among others.
During the inquiry, PAC interviewed former State House chief of staff Prince Kapondamgaga, the fund’s board chairperson Chizaso Nyirongo, Attorney General Frank Mbeta and registrar of financial institutions George Partridge and his team from Reserve Bank of Malawi.
