What made this government cancel nearly every deal started by the previous administration, except the purchase of Amaryllis Hotel by the Public Service Pension Trust Fund?
Lately, the question I instinctively asked before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has refused to fade.
The nonpartisan response from Malawians has forced me to face a harder truth: This is no longer about one transaction, but the system itself.
I offer these reflections not to score points, but to ignite a national conversation that must outlast any single administration or leader.
If we keep treating symptoms while ignoring the disease, we will keep getting the same results no matter who holds power.
For months, the nation has watched the Amaryllis transaction unravel in painful detail. Over K90 billion transferred in six transactions within days between January 12 and 19 this year, with K5.5 billion withdrawn shortly afterwards.
Authorities are still tracing the money and these are not mere numbers, but a damning indictment.
No serious governance system should allow such a transaction to slip through without instant red flags, immediate restraint and swift accountability.
The sheer billions cashed out should have triggered every alarm in our financial intelligence network.
So why did it not?
Equally alarming are credible reports from the Financial Intelligence Authority: Senior leaders redeployed, technical teams disrupted and a critical unit quietly weakened.
If these accounts are true, we are not merely dealing with corruption, but witnessing institutional sabotage—a country that exposes its own watchdog. Is that a country choosing vigilance or vulnerability?
Read the pattern: A high-risk deal is approved, institutions stir, pressure mounts and key people are moved, reassigned or neutralised. Meanwhile, the public is told “investigations are ongoing”.
This cycle is not new or unique to one government, but the system repeating itself. That is exactly why it must end.
Public statements speak of “progress”: Funds being traced, agencies collaborating and updates raining, but accountability is measured by consequence.
Where, then, are the clear lines of responsibility and the decisive action the nation was promised? Are our institutions being fortified or deliberately undermined one redeployment at a time?
The damage does not stop at our borders, but ripples across a global financial system that demands independence and integrity.
When our institutions appear compromised, every citizen pays the price: Higher borrowing costs, fleeing investors, and the risk of grey-listing.
Governance failure is a tax on every Malawian’s future.
So this moment demands raw honesty. Without an honest diagnosis, any reform is theatre.
It demands courage because confronting systemic failure is never comfortable.
Above all, it demands leadership that refuses to hide behind political convenience, but confronts structural reality head-on.
True leadership must be willing to stand before the nation and declare: The system as it currently operates is failing us.
It must then act decisively to protect and empower independent institutions so that watchdogs can bite without fear; rigorously scrutinise every high-value transaction before it is signed; and enforce accountability that is swift, visible and proportionate to the crime.
Governance is not sustained by laws alone, but also trust. When citizens see rules applied selectively, institutions manipulated and outcomes decided by connections, trust collapses and legitimacy follows.
This is why my question will not go away. It must force us to confront the system that keeps producing the same failures.
Ask not merely “who is responsible?” but far more dangerous questions: What system keeps allowing this? How many more watchdogs must be neutered before we admit the institutions themselves are under siege? When will ‘investigations are ongoing’ stop being an acceptable substitute for real justice? However, the most urgently of all is this: “Are we finally willing to reset our governance or are we condemned to repeat this cycle forever?
This question cannot be answered with defensiveness or political spin, but with honesty and the courage to act on the finding.
Until we do, the question will remain. So will the problem.For this to happen, concerted effort is paramount.
