State House yesterday said President Peter Mutharika is failing to travel to the Northern Region because the official residence, Mzuzu State Lodge is in bad shape and under extensive maintenance.
The same remains the case with Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe and Sanjika Palace in Blantyre—forcing the President to operate from Mtunthama State Lodge, another State Residence in the capital city’s Area 3.
State House press secretary Cathy Maulidi said in a written response yesterday they expect all renovations to be done by month-end, but transparency campaigners worry that the secretive process could cost the taxpayer more than necessary.
While State House has kept the cost under wraps, in the 2025/26 fiscal year, government has allocated K15 billion for maintenance, out of the K67 billion budget for State Residences.
Since assuming office on October 4 2025, Mutharika was initially alternating between his private residences in Blantyre’s Nyambadwe suburb and Mangochi and, occasionally, at the tax-payer funded Sanjika Palace in
the commercial city before settling at Mtunthama.
Maulidi said Mutharika wants to visit the Northern Region, but that plan is being affected by the state of Mzuzu State Lodge.
“It is his desire that he interacts with people of the Northern Region before the end of the year, but what we have seen today at Mzuzu State Lodge is what is putting us on hold,” she said.
According to Maulidi, there is need to replace the entire kitchen unit, repair broken doors, paint some walls and install new carpets, television sets and mini-refrigerators in some rooms.
“Certain kitchen utensils are missing from the kitchen and will need to be replaced. It is clear that this house was neglected during the period in the run-up to the September 16 elections, and the staff members here only assumed office on November 5,” added Maulidi.
On the situation at Kamuzu and Sanjika palaces, Maulidi said missing items include cameras, fridges, ICT equipment and
television sets. She added they are engaging law enforcement agencies for possible criminal processes.
At Chikoko Bay, Maulidi said the furniture is worn-out. She could not, however, be drawn to comment on the total cost of the refurbishments.
Of the allocated K15 billion for maintenance, budget documents show that the programme of replacement and rehabilitation of plants and equipment was pegged at K3.5 billion, rehabilitation of security fence at K3.1 billion, rehabilitation at Kamuzu, Sanjika and Mtunthama State Residences at K3 billion while construction of office complex at Kamuzu Palace was put at
K5.4 billion.
Centre for SocialTransparency and Accountability executive director Willy Kambwandira said such renovations ought to be subjected to full disclosure, competitive bidding and independent verification.
“While maintenance is normal, the scale of cost inflation, lack of transparency and secretive procurement processes point to a deliberate strategy to channel public resources into private pockets under the guise of upgrades.
“These projects are rarely audited, never competitively tendered and usually justified with vague claims of urgent repairs creating a fertile ground for inflated contracts, political patronage and kickbacks,” he said.
Governance expert George Chaima agreed, saying many people have been calling for transparency and accountability in the country, but such calls are normally ignored.
