LMC, Gwengwe dial down Bridgin: Change of heart?

Both the State of the Nation Address (Sona) and the Budget Statement have not acknowledged the Bridgin funding, raising questions of whether government has had a change of heart on the deal.

Two former Cabinet ministers have described this omission as strange and an “indication of lost confidence in the agreement”.

But Finance Minister Sosten Gwengwe—who has been touchy on the subject—insists that once Bridgin projects are ready for rollout, government will provide an update.

However, he has allocated funds in the budget to some projects that the Foundation is supposed to finance.

For example, in his budget statement delivered on March 2, 2023, Gwengwe said government has allocated K5 billion for construction of Inkosi M’mbelwa University, one of the projects earmarked for Bridgin funding.

In the Sona delivered on February 17, 2023, President Chakwera also did not acknowledge Bridgin funding.

While Chakwera mentioned two out of seven projects in the Sona that he said government would implement, he fell short of mentioning the foundation he extoled as Father Christmas months earlier.

Said the President: “We have secured funding for the Kamuzu High-Tech University Teaching Hospital. In the coming fiscal year, Madam Speaker, we are finally commencing the construction of the Inkosi ya Makhosi M’mbelwa University”.

Under the Bridgin grant, Kamuzu High-Tech University Teaching Hospital is allocated $1 billion and $480 million for Inkosi ya Makhosi M’mbelwa University.

In both the 2023/24 financial statement and programme-based budget document (5) vote 275 (subvented organisations), the two projects appear under development budget part two (II), meaning they will be funded domestically.

Kamuzu High-Tech University Teaching Hospital project has been allocated K1 billion and Inkosi M’mbelwa University K4 billion.

The financial statement also shows that government, on vote 400 – Ministry of Transport and Public Works, development budget part two, has been allocated K500 million for construction of a twin tower government office complex at Capital Hill. This is another project listed on Bridgin funding estimated  at $230 million.

“Politics aside, the Sona should have acknowledged this support. It is huge and therefore, in any case, it should have been recorded as one of the achievements of this administration. With all the economic problems the country is facing, this, if at all it is true, would have been given a lot of attention in the statement. This only vindicates our fear that it may not be as true as it is portrayed,” said Joseph Mwanamvekha, former finance minister in the Peter Mutharika administration.

Bright Msaka, a former Cabinet minister and Chief Secretary to Cabinet, also said he is surprised by the lack of mention of the grant, adding that government may have been ill-advised on this issue.

Said Msaka: “We in DPP [Democratic Progressive Party] have said all along that the Bridgin finance facility is a marvelous monument of the Tonse Administration’s ineptitude. How could a government that is supposedly advised by experts be fooled to that extent? As the Minister of Finance himself admitted during budget consultations, the Bridgin finance matter was nonsense”.

Faced with a question on Bridgin funding during budget consultations in January, Gwengwe, who signed on behalf of the Malawi Government, described the question as nonsense.

“Kulibe anasayinila kuti kwabwera ndalama $6.8 billion for chani chani [no one signed for $6.8 billion or something like it]. That’s just nonsense?” said the minister on January 12, in Lilongwe.

In an interview on the sidelines of another consultation in Mzuzu, on January 13, Gwengwe cast further doubt when he suggested that the Bridgin grant will not form part of his next national budget that takes effect on April 1 2023.

In an whatsapp response yesterday, Gwengwe said the Bridgin agreement is a grant based assistance and not a pure PPP arrangement. adding that the foundation is also not meant to be private sector player.

In an earlier interview, after the Sona, government spokesperson Moses Kunkuyu said people should not read too much into the presidential address as the budget statement was likely to address the Bridgin questions.

After the budget, put to him that the grant was missing again, Kunkuyu referred us to Principal Secretary for Transport and Public Works, who is yet to respond.

Asked why government had allocated domestic resources to some of the projects that are supposed to benefit from the Bridgin grant, Gwengwe said “when Bridgin projects are ready to roll, the nation will be updated. Inkosi ya Makhosi M’mbelwa University has a number of schools; School of Sciences Management will start”.

In the 2023/24 Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP), the University Teaching Hospital and Inkosi ya Makhosi M’mbelwa University, under development part one; has been allocated $1 billion and $400 million, respectively.

Treasury spokesperson Taurai Banda asked for more time to explain the source of this funding, which is more than the development budget estimated at around K900 billion from both government and donors.

List of projects to benefit from Bridgin Foundation Grant

• $ 1billion – State-of-the-art teaching hospital in Chileka, Blantyre under Kamuzu University of Health Science with its satellites in Mangochi, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.
• $750 million high tech fertiliser manufacturing plant at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
• $480 million Inkosi ya Makhosi M’mbelwa University in Mzimba.
• $591 million Geology Centre at Mzuzu University
• $158 million High -Tech lab at Malawi University of Science and Technology.
• $230 million twin tower at Capital Hill to house government ministries, departments and agencies
• $3.315 million – 1 000 megawatts power generation plant.