Former State Residences chief of staff Prince Kapondamgaga on Thursday evening questioned why the government allowed the K128 billion Amaryllis Hotel purchase to proceed despite the November 2025 austerity measures banning high-value asset acquisitions.
Testifying to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, he highlighted the paradox of halting other, smaller State-owned enterprise projects while this transaction continued.
Kapondamgaga noted the contradiction in the government’s stance, where a November 6, 2025, directive banned high-value asset purchases, yet the hotel deal, initiated by the Public Service Pension Trust Fund (PSPTF), was not halted.
“This hotel is part of the high value assets. We are not there. I am not there. Decisions are continuing. Is it not a paradox that government halted Neef [National Economic Empowerment Fund] services and others, but this thing is still continuing?”
He said on October 7 2025, the government directed that all boards be dissolved and on October 10 2025, a policy pronouncement halted all procurements by parastatals and State owned enterprises.
The same day, he said government suspended all recruitments and promotions in the Civil Service while on November 4 2025, stopped loan disbursements by the National Economic Empowerment Fund (Neef).
He admitted to attending a March 6 2024, meeting regarding the hotel deal in Mzuzu, but described his role as an observer representing the OPC, rather than an active decision-maker.
The meeting was also attended by former Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba, OPC legal advisor Chizaso Nyirongo, and PSPTF representative Boyd Hamela.
During the hearing, Blantyre Chilomoni-Kabula-Nancholi MP Noel Lipipa read out minutes from that same March 6 2024 meeting.
According to the minutes, the meeting resolved that a member of OPC should become a trustee.
It also agreed that the sale of Amaryllis Hotel should be concluded urgently and that weekly reports be submitted since the matter had reached the highest office.
Other resolutions included engaging a new investment manager within one month, submitting a comfort letter to the seller, Yusuf Investments Limited, within three days and resuscitating engagement with the new investment manager.
When asked to confirm the resolutions, Kapondamgaga said he could not commit because he had not seen the minutes and was unsure if they were approved and signed.
Said Kapondamgaga when lawmakers accused him that his presence during the meeting may have influenced the deal: “I wasn’t there when decisions to sell the hotel were made. I wasn’t in government, but this thing was continuing.
“How could my presence have influenced decisions which happened later? I don’t believe my presence influenced the decision of the sale of the Amaryllis Hotel,” he said.
He also raised concerns about governance at the Public Service Pension Trust Fund, which bought the hotel for K128.7 billion using public servants’ pension savings.
He said: “I’m not comfortable to be given action points for minutes which are not signed for. I want to emphasise to chair that this is a serious matter on governance.”
His concerns echoed earlier testimony before the same committee, where former trustees revealed that the fund’s board had resolved in January 2024 not to buy the hotel. Surprisingly, the minutes documenting that decision have since gone missing.
The committee has been investigating the transaction for several weeks.
Nico Asset Managers, one of the firms that analysed the valuations for the hotel withdrew from the deal in December 2023 after warning the fund about liquidity risks and concerns that projected returns from the facility would not meet performance expectations.
Nevertheless, the fund went ahead with the purchase and made an upfront payment of K90 billion for the facility. The Reserve Bank of Malawi has since traced at least K72.6 billion linked to the deal and frozen the bank accounts holding these funds.
It also imposed fines on trustees after discovering that the fund had already signed the sale agreement despite regulatory directives.
Attorney General Frank Mbeta, Zamba and George Jim, the suspended principal officer of the pension fund, are among those still scheduled to appear before the committee.
The Reserve Bank of Malawi revealed the PSPTF ignored a directive to stop the transaction, prompting a request to financial institutions to reverse the deal.
