MPs query hotel deal

Opposition members of Parliament (MPs) on Tuesday queried Malawi Government on the awarding of a management contract to the newly constructed five-star hospitality complex in Lilongwe which includes The President’s Hotel, to South Africa’s Legacy Holdings, whose bid earlier failed to impress authorities.

The complex also comprises the Bingu International Conference Centre. There are also Presidential Villas located along the Presidential Drive as part of the complex, albeit at a distance.

In a query to Minister of Tourism and Culture Rachel Zulu, Balaka South MP George Nnensa demanded an explanation from government on whether the country’s taxpayers would not end up paying huge sums of money to compensate another South African firm, Peermont Global Propriety Limited, which earlier won the deal.

He said: “Would the minister explain to the nation why and how the contract with Peermont was cancelled and why Legacy, who were not recommended on two occasions, have been given this contract against professional advice from the tender evaluators?”

Last month, The Nation revealed that government had offered Legacy Holdings the contract to manage the facilities, scorning Peermont which won in the first tender processed in 2012.

Legacy clinched the deal despite failing to impress in a special tender that President Joyce Banda ordered to accommodate it after she cancelled the deal with Peermont.

Malawi’s Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Ralph Kasambara said the Minister of Tourism could not answer the question because the matter was in court.

But Nnensa demanded evidence from Kasambara that the matter was indeed in court.