How MCP government forced Amaryllis hotel sale

By Ndebela Kwangazu

Details have emerged that the Malawi Congress Party administration was at the centre of the sale of a K128 billion Amaryllis hotel which is now under investigations.

In March 2023, the former Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba, summoned the management of the Public Service Pension Trust Fund to a meeting at Mzuzu Sunbird hotel where she told the Fund to continue with the sale transactions of the hotel.

Present at the meeting were former director general of State Residences Prince Kapondamgaga and Principal Secretary for Legal in the Office of the President and Cabinet Chizaso Nyirongo.

Zamba told the Fund to proceed with the sale arguing that the government did not want to be embarrassed with litigation that could be avoided.

After the meeting, the Fund told the seller to proceed with the transactions.

When the Fund’s board tenure ended in August 2024, the former Principal Officer George Jimu , with the backing from the government then, wrote a number of letters of commitment to the sale of the hotel, which sources say was an anomaly to have taken place in the absence of a board.

In January this year, the Fund paid 70 percent of the transaction which was about  K90 billion.

Meanwhile, Zamba and Kapondamgaga have been summoned to appear before the inquiry on Thursday.