K128bn Amaryllis Hotel scandal probe ‘dead in the water’ as Parliament rises without report

A bombshell parliamentary probe into the controversial K128 billion purchase of Blantyre’s Amaryllis Hotel is looking increasingly like it has been quietly buried, after Parliament rose this Friday without ever receiving a report into the scandal-hit deal.

The stunning omission comes despite the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) being explicitly given the green light to wrap up its inquiry without hearing evidence from former Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba, whose repeated no-shows had brought the entire investigation to a standstill.

Yet with the current sitting now over, the report is nowhere to be found on the Order Paper – leaving Malawians with no indication of when, or even if, the findings will ever see the light of day.

For an inquiry centred on the use of billions of kwacha in ordinary pensioners’ hard-earned savings, the deafening silence from Parliament is fast becoming as damning as the original allegations that sparked the probe in the first place.

At the heart of the scandal is the Public Service Pension Trust Fund’s (PSPTF) acquisition of the Amaryllis Hotel for a staggering K128 billion, with approximately K90 billion already reportedly handed over to the previous owners – despite serious unanswered questions over the property’s valuation, the procurement process, how the deal was financed, and the murky circumstances surrounding the entire transaction.

PAC launched its investigation earlier this year amid mounting concern over potential irregularities.

But rather than delivering the decisive reckoning many had hoped for, the inquiry instead became bogged down in procedural wrangling and disputes over which witnesses should testify.

The committee had originally planned to conclude proceedings without Zamba after her persistent failure to appear before MPs.

But Leader of the House Jappie Mhango insisted her testimony was essential, forcing the committee to reopen hearings specifically to accommodate her – and other witnesses.

She still did not show up.

PAC chairperson Steven Malondera then argued that the State would first need to withdraw a separate court case, in which Zamba faces charges linked to the hotel transaction, before she could give evidence to the committee – a legal tangle that appeared to drag the impasse out even further.

Eventually, Speaker of Parliament Sameer Suleman stepped in during the current sitting, giving PAC explicit authorisation to finalise its inquiry and table the report without Zamba’s testimony – a move that should, in theory, have cleared the single biggest roadblock standing in the way.

It didn’t.

With Parliament now rising, the report remains unpublished. When contacted on Thursday, Malondera declined to explain why the committee had failed to conclude its work and submit the report during the sitting.

However, in a recent interview on Times Exclusive, he suggested PAC would soon convene to formally adopt the report – though its ultimate fate, he admitted, rests entirely with Parliament.

‘It will be in the hands of Parliament to receive the report or not,’ Malondera said, adding that he personally wanted ordinary Malawians to see its contents.

That lingering uncertainty has sparked alarm among civil society campaigners. National Anti-Corruption Alliance chairperson Michael Kaiyatsa said the prolonged delay had left Malawians deeply disappointed, particularly after Parliament itself had directed PAC to finish the job.

‘The public has waited for too long for answers on this issue,’ Kaiyatsa warned, cautioning that continued delays risked eroding public confidence in Parliament’s ability to hold the powerful to account.

National Advocacy Platform chairperson Benedict Kondowe echoed those concerns, branding the delay a significant setback in the broader fight against corruption and the abuse of public office.

He argued that tabling the report would finally help separate hard fact from rampant speculation swirling around the hotel purchase, while also safeguarding the interests of current and future pensioners relying on the fund.

Kondowe further warned that failing to bring the matter to a close risked creating a damaging perception that Malawi’s oversight institutions are either powerless or simply unwilling to act decisively when vast sums of public money are at stake.

The unfolding Amaryllis saga now raises a question far bigger than the fate of one hotel: what happens when a parliamentary investigation drags on for longer than the public’s patience can bear?

PAC was established specifically to scrutinise how public resources are used. Parliament then directed it to complete this very inquiry.

The committee was subsequently granted explicit permission to proceed without the one witness whose absence had derailed everything.

And yet, still, no report has reached Parliament.

That troubling sequence of events risks cementing the impression that bureaucratic obstacles have effectively become a convenient substitute for genuine accountability – a particularly damaging conclusion in a case involving ordinary people’s pension money.

The PSPTF, after all, is not managing routine commercial capital – it safeguards funds intended to provide retirement security for Malawi’s public servants.

Any unresolved questions surrounding a K128 billion investment therefore extend far beyond the fortunes of a single hotel or transaction, striking instead at the heart of public trust in how workers’ retirement savings are managed and protected.

The Attorney General’s Office may yet have a role to play in untangling the legal questions surrounding the inquiry, particularly regarding how parliamentary oversight intersects with the ongoing criminal proceedings involving figures connected to the transaction.

But for now, the ultimate responsibility – and the growing embarrassment of an investigation that has simply vanished – rests squarely with Parliament itself.

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