MUTHARIKA PROVES GOOD GOVERNANCE: Champion in Amaryllis Hotel Sale

By Denzio Mwengotati

In a political landscape where parliamentary inquiries have too often been stillborn, President Peter Mutharika’s unequivocal backing of the Public Accounts Committee investigation into the Amaryllis Hotel purchase is not merely welcome: It is sending shockwaves through the political establishment.

And nowhere is that fear more palpable than among former ministers of the former president Lazarus Chakwera’s administration, who are now watching in horror as the long arm of accountability finally catches up with them.

“This administration is not in office for a feast,” the President declared on Saturday throwing his weight behind lawmakers scrutinising the K128.7 billion acquisition of the Amaryllis Hotel by the Public Service Pension Trust Fund.

“Public office is a sacred trust bestowed by the people of Malawi, and any misuse of public resources or influence for personal gain is a serious betrayal of that trust,” Mutharika added.

For Malawians who have watched successive presidents shield allies from accountability, such words carry weight only when matched by action. The early signs suggest Mutharika understands this distinction—and his predecessors’ failures are now walking through the doors he has left open.

The reckoning begins

In the past days, the chickens came home to roost for the previous administration. Two former ministers who served under Chakwera, Sosten Gwengwe and Sam Kawale were detained by police, bringing to seven the number of former Chakwera ministers arrested under the current administration. Colleen Zamba, the powerful former Secretary to the President and Cabinet who many believed was untouchable, has been detained for a second time over allegations of abuse of power during her tenure.

When Chakwera accused his successor of “persecuting opposition figures,” President Mutharika’s response was telling: the security forces will continue to detain people where there is clear evidence of law violation. No shielding. No phone calls to stop investigations. No quiet burying of dockets.

A scandal with many layers

The Amaryllis hotel saga grows more disturbing with each revelation before Parliament. Former trustees of the pension fund have told the PAC that the board had actually rejected the deal in January 2024 but the minutes documenting that decision have mysteriously disappeared. NICO Asset Managers, one of the fund’s professional investment advisors, walked away from the transaction after warning that purchasing the hotel would expose pensioners’ savings to serious liquidity risks.

Registrar of Financial Institutions recommended that the sale of the hotel should be rescinded arguing that the Board disobeyed and failed to comply with directions that were issued. 

In its report dated December 16, 2025, the Anti Corruption Bureau made a suggestion that there was a need to conduct further investigations as there were allegations that some officers of the Fund were making unauthorised decisions on behalf of the Board of Trustees in this transaction for their own benefit.

Despite these warnings and despite the board’s alleged resolution not to proceed the deal went ahead. K128.7 billion of public servants’ retirement money was committed to a single asset that professional managers had advised against.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau has now reopened its investigation and moved to freeze accounts linked to the transaction. The PAC is televising its hearings. This is precisely how accountable the Mutharika administration is.

Previous parliamentary inquiries collapsed

To understand why the current approach has former ministers trembling, one need only examine how the previous administration handled accountability. The contrast is stark and deeply damning.

The Chakwera administration rushed arresting people without clear cases. In 2021, several government officials including Principal Secretaries were arrested and a cabinet minister sacked over allegations of abuse of Covid-19 funds. Five years down the line, several of such cases have been discharged while others still without any direction.

The mysterious Bill scandal of 2021 followed a similar pattern. When a K93 billion loan authorisation bill was smuggled into Parliament without following procedures, President Chakwera ordered investigations. His executive assistant and a Ministry of Finance official were arrested.

But civil society organisations immediately expressed concern that these arrests were “a mere smokescreen created to mask the reality of what really happened and to shield the real culprits.” The Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation warned that those arrested “could be mere scapegoats.” The promised full investigation never materialised, and the broader questions about who orchestrated the smuggling remained unanswered.

The Colleen Zamba saga perhaps best illustrates how the previous administration protected powerful officials from accountability. In 2024, leaked memos showed her pushing a 40,000-tonne emergency fuel purchase outside Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority, National Oil Company of Malawi and Public Procurement of Disposable Assets channels. She continued serving in her position.

More recently, explosive revelations emerged about an alleged state capture scheme involving Zamba, Transport Minister Jacob Hara, and a company linked to the President’s relations. Documents showed plans to transfer K32 billion of public funds to a private company account for fuel deals bypassing all normal procurement channels. The company registration showed linkage of powerful relations in the MCP.

Yet when the scandal broke, the President remained silent on the substantive issues while responding within hours to social media rumours about his health. As one government official put it at the time: “Zamba is not going anywhere, he won’t do anything. In short Malawians can think all they can about their leader, but he sees no wrong in what happened attempt to defraud and deceive the public.”

The persecution of the anti-corruption chief represented perhaps the lowest point. In December 2022, ACB Director Martha Chizuma was dragged from her home at dawn and arrested for exposing corruption. Parliament later condemned the arrest as a vendetta. The United States, United Kingdom, and European Union warned Chakwera to “hands off the ACB,” with the US Ambassador calling the prosecution “harassment.”

Cases against Chizuma were eventually discontinued but only after international pressure and threatened sanctions forced the administration’s hand.

The Hansard integrity issue further demonstrates how accountability was undermined even in Parliament’s official records. In February 2025, President Chakwera admitted that his State of the Nation Address contained errors and misleading claims about infrastructure projects. He requested Parliament to expunge the inaccurate data from the Hansard.

Months later, the disputed sections remained unaltered in the official parliamentary record. Parliament had yet to implement the President’s request, meaning falsehoods were inadvertently being preserved as official truth. As Nyasa Times noted, the failure to act risked “the institutionalisation of misinformation within official documents.”

A consistent thread: Protection over accountability

Across these cases, a pattern emerges: initial flourishes of accountability followed by quiet abandonment. Arrests made, but prosecutions never filed. Investigations announced, but culprits never identified. Parliamentary summonses issued, but powerful officials protected.

The contrast with the current approach to the Amaryllis inquiry could not be sharper.

Promises made, promises kept

When Mutharika took office following his election victory, he issued a blunt warning: “From today, corruption is finished. If I discover that you are looting the government as a state representative, I will deal with you.”

Such rhetoric is common at inauguration ceremonies. What matters is whether it translates into governance.

The Amaryllis inquiry represents an early test. A less secure president might have sought to slow-walk the investigation, to protect allies, or to ensure that scrutiny remained within manageable bounds. Instead, Mutharika has done something far more unusual: he has stood back and let institutions work.

“The fact that this inquiry is taking place is proof of our resolve to let oversight institutions work without interference,” his statement reads. In Malawi’s recent context, that sentence is not platitude it is a declaration of war on the old ways.

President Mutharika’s response to Chakwera’s complaint of “persecution” was masterful in its simplicity: where there is evidence, the law must take its course. No exceptions. No sacred cows.

The Amaryllis saga has not reached its conclusion. Crucial questions remain unanswered. Who revived the deal after the board allegedly rejected it? On whose authority was K128.7 billion committed? What happened to the missing minutes?

The PAC chairperson has promised that all those involved will appear before the committee. The ACB is investigating. The President has drawn his line.

Malawians are witnessing something their recent history has rarely offered: a President who appears to understand that his job is not to protect the powerful from accountability, but to ensure that accountability runs its course.

Mutharika has promised he will not shield anyone involved in corruption. By backing this inquiry without reservation and by allowing law enforcement to pursue former officials where evidence exists has taken the first critical steps toward proving that promise is real.

The eyes of the nation and particularly of the public servants whose pensions hang in the balance remain fixed on Parliament. For once, they have reason to hope that this time, the truth will not be buried, and that justice will not be delayed into oblivion.