Govt queries Amaryllis probe report

Malawi Government has queried the completeness of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) inquiry report into the Public Service Pension Trust Fund acquisition of Amaryllis Hotel in Blantyre without interviewing some key stakeholders. Minister of Information and Communications Technology Shadric Namalomba in an interview yesterday mentioned former Secretary to the President and Cabinet (SPC) Colleen Zamba and the seller, Yusuf Investment Limited, as key entities who should have been interviewed. PAC closed its investigation into the multi-billion kwacha deal on March 30 2026 after receiving communication from lawyers representing Zamba that she would not make it at the appointed time because she was receiving medical treatment abroad.

But in a written response, Namalomba said that while the government is not blocking the presentation of the report in Parliament, the report remains partial because crucial witnesses did appear before PAC. He said: “The government has no objection whatsoever to the timely presentation of the report once the committee has concluded its work in a thorough and complete manner. “However, we are deeply concerned that neither the seller of the property in question nor the former Secretary to the President, Madam Zamba, both of whom are central to this investigation, have appeared before the committee.” Namalomba said such an ‘anomaly’ is serious and risks negatively skewing the results of the investigation, insisting, the government’s position is that no crucial witness is left unsummoned.

He said President Peter Muthariaka wants the truth, urging PAC to summon all remaining witnesses without delay, present the report once that is done, and let the law take its course “If the committee fails to summon and hear from Madam Zamba and the property seller, the report would be fundamentally incomplete and its findings potentially flawed,”insisted Namalomba. But PAC chairperson Steven Malondera in an interview yesterday said the committee, which has 23 members, discussed all those who did not appear and unanimously agreed to proceed to report. He said: “The committee had to go through the report line by line, sentence by sentence, page by page and chapter by chapter.

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We had such an exercise on Tuesday [March 31 2026] from 8:30 am to 5:15pm. “A [committee] member proposed adoption of the report and it was seconded. What is remaining is presentation to Parliament.” The Lilongwe Nyanja legislator said after presentation the onus will be on Parliament to “reject the report or adopt the report”. In a letter dated March 31 to the Clerk of Parliament (CoP), Zamba’s lawyer George Kadzipatike stated that the State commenced a criminal case against her classified as Criminal Case Number 266 of 2026 on charges of abuse of office in connection with the sale of Amaryllis Hotel.

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