Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament stated yesterday it has completed its investigation into the acquisition of Amaryllis Hotel in Blantyre by the Public Service Pension Trust Fund and that it is ready to present the report in Parliament.
If tabled during the July meeting of Parliament, it will mean PAC submitting the report without interviewing former Secretary to the President and Cabinet (SPC) Colleen Zamba, a development some civil society organisations (CSOs) have decried.
PAC chairperson Steven Malondera said in a brief interview yesterday that all was set for the presentation of the report.
“What is remaining is the tabling of the report in the House. We will present it [during the] next sitting of Parliament,” he said.
He, however, declined to comment on how PAC will proceed to release the report without Zamba’s testimony. She was supposed to appear before the committee in the second phase of the inquiry.
Zamba’s lawyer George Kadzipat ike confi rmed yesterday that they “have not received any communication from Parliament on that matter recently”.
Commenting on the development, Human Rights Defenders Coalition chairperson Michael Kaiyatsa insisted that accountability processes must be thorough, comprehensive and seen to be fair.
He said: “Where there are individuals who may possess information relevant to the inquiry, every reasonable effort should be made to hear their testimony before final conclusions are drawn.”
Governance pundit George Chaima agreed, stating that if a key witness is unavailable, committees can either adjourn the matter or proceed with available evidence since compelling Zamba to appear before the committee has proved futile.
“Although PAC has proposed to proceed, the challenge is that if the report has some notable gaps, the findings may be seen as incomplete by the public if Zamba’s testimony is considered central,” he said.
The controversy centres on the fund, which manages pension savings for around 129 000 civil servants. The fund agreed to purchase Amaryllis Hotel for K128.7 billion despite that prior valuations priced the property at between K30 billion and K47 billion.
