BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-Presidential Advisor on Political Affairs, has been accused of manipulating Secretary to the President and Cabinet (SPC), Colleen Zamba, to make myopic decisions on behalf of the government.
President Lazarus Chakwera appointed Zamba in June 2022, replacing Zangazanga Chikhosi who had been fired a few earlier in May of the same year.
Since her appointment, the SPC has been mired in several high-profile investigations involving procurement deals in some critical sectors of the economy such as energy and agriculture.
At the height of the fuel crisis in the country, governance and economic commentators questioned her role as Board Chairperson of the National Oil Company of Malawi (NOCMA), raising eyebrows on the level of power she has and how she uses that power in executing her duties.
But now the accusing fingers are pointing at Chivunde as being the main culprit behind the terrible decisions Zamba has been making on behalf of the Government of Malawi.
Highly placed sources at Capital Hill are, for instance, accusing the adviser of influencing the SPC to facilitate the signing of the ill-fated $6.8 billion (about K11.3 billion) deal with the Belgium-based Bridgin Foundation on November 28, 2022.
There has been dead silence on the future of the package, which was meant to finance projects in areas of health, education, energy, and infrastructure development has been no progress report.
“In a recent development, Chivunde influenced the SPC (Zamba) to seal a deal with East Bridge to supply fertilizer for the 2023-2024 Affordable Input Programme before entering into another agreement with a Botswana-based company, SG Global, to supply fertilizers and fuel to Malawi,” revealed our sources.
“Furthermore, Chivunde influenced the awarding of contracts at Southern Region Water Board (SRWB) and Malawi Gaming Board to the Mpinganjira family to which he is related”, added the source.
Chivunde could not be immediately contacted for his comment.
On Bridgin Foundation dead deal
This comes in reality check that when Malawians woke up to the news that the government had signed a US$6.8 billion (MK11.4 trillion) deal with a Belgian registered private foundation called Bridgin Foundation, little was known as to who exactly had initiated the deal and at what cost.
Details are now emerging of how a top government official connived with one Presidential adviser to sugarcoat a deal that had doubts written all over it from the word go.
The duo comprises Secretary to the President and Cabinet (SPC) Colleen Zamba and Presidential Advisor on Political Affairs Ephraim Chivunde.
Impeccable inside sources both at State House and Capital Hill reveal that Bridgin Foundation President, Professor Mahmodou Tanko, first infiltrated his way into the country’s stable of power through Chivunde who later introduced him to the SPC.
As head of the civil service, SPC Zamba opened to Tanko the whole government system for his bidding including an official signing ceremony of the deal at Kamuzu Palace on November 28, 2022.
The flopped deal had US$ 6.8 billion earmarked to fund mega construction projects including a 1000 megawatt power plant, a university, a teaching hospital with three satellites, a high-tech Bio Science and Fertilizer Manufacturing Industrial Park at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar), Mzuzu University Teaching and Learning and Research Facilities for geo-mining and the establishment of a business park.
Other projects are the Malawi University of Science and Technology High-tech and Engineering Hub and Capital Hill Twin Towers.
Despite the sweet outlook of the deal, fourteen months have passed with zero action on what was touted as a game changer at face value.
The inside sources say Zamba and Chivunde are now under pressure from within the system to explain the whereabouts of their ‘investor’.
In reaction to these growing calls, the two are plotting the second coming of Professor Tanko during which he has been coached to issue new promises of a deal that is as good as dead.