Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) has come under the spotlight over its intention to award security services contracts to three firms, including one owned by Minister of State Alfred Gangata, raising legal and ethical concerns. In an intention to award contracts dated December 26 2025, MRA said it plans to award the collective K5.4 billion contracts to Master Security Services, Kamu Guard Services and Iringa Security Services. MRA is set to offer Gangata’s firm, Master Security, contracts worth K3.3 billion for guarding services despite being the subject of MRA-initiated legal proceedings around tax issues.
The deals include a K1.2 billion contract for MRA cluster in Blantyre and another K2.1 billion in the Central Region. On the other hand, Kamu Guard Services’ prospective contract is pegged at K897 million for the South and Eastern clusters while Iringa Security Services is to cover the Northern Cluster at K1.14 billion. MRA Commissioner General Felix Tambulasi yesterday referredThe Nationto MRA spokesperson Wilma Chalulu.
Chalulu said the notice of award is meant to inform bidders and the public of the public tax collector’s intention to offer the contracts, in accordance with Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets (PPDA) Act requirements. In a written response, she said no contract has been awarded as the notice forms part of the procurement and evaluation process. Said Chalulu: “The publication of the intention to award is a deliberate transparency measure intended to provide an opportunity for any bidders who may have concerns or noted irregularities in the process to come forward, for MRA to address before the contracts are formally awarded.
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“The procurement was conducted through open tender national competitive bidding. The tender was duly advertised in two newspapers of national circulation on 12 November 2025 and ran for a period of three weeks.” She said MRA follows established procurement guidelines in all its procurement activities and this process is being undertaken in line with its approved procurement plan and operational requirements. But in separate interviews yesterday, pundits particularly queried why MRA was intending to offer a contract to Master Security when the authority was in a legal battle with Gangata for alleged forgery of tax clearance certificates for the same company.
According to the charge sheet in that case, Gangata, between July 2017 and June 2018, allegedly prepared and used a falsified tax clearance certificate number MRA/MTO-LIL/000952 bearing the name Alfred Ruwani Gangata trading as Master Security in the bidding process for a contract at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Coincidentally, in that case, Gangata was being represented by Tambulasi who was a private practice lawyer until his appointment as MRA Commissioner General in October this year, but had previously also served as MRA head of legal services and corporate services.
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