SPC Colleen Zamba
* During their interface with the President last week, PAC made several comments, observations and recommendations
* On issues of national importance and prioritized the performance of the civil service as one major setback that is derailing socioeconomic growth in the country
Maravi Express
Concerns raised by quasi-religious body, Public Affairs Committee (PAC), on the untenable nature of the role Secretary to the President & Cabinet (SPC), Colleen Zamba in government affairs, has brought into thought some of the bottlenecks President Lazarus Chakwera is facing to push his development agenda.
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During their interface with the President last week, PAC made several comments, observations and recommendations on issues of national importance and prioritized the performance of the civil service as one major setback that is derailing socioeconomic growth in the country.
In asking Chakwera to fire the SPC, they justified their suggestion describing Zamba as incompetent in the execution of duties and singled her out as the weakest link because of the oversight she has over the entire civil service.
A source privy to the matter says it “probably it makes sense why the civil service has suffered in terms of leadership. Zamba seems to spend much of her time and energy over other auxiliary matters where she smells fortune and influence leaving civil servants with little or no direction.”
The source maintains that since Zamba was hired in June last year, she has been “mired in a number of high profile investigations involving procurement deals in some critical sectors of the economy such as energy and agriculture”.
“Her role as board chairperson of National Oil Company of Malawi (NOCMA) is what raised eyebrows on the level of powers she has and how she uses that power in executing her duties.”
Buluma during her session with Parliamentary Public Appointments Committee
Early this year, former NOCMA acting chief executive officer, Hellen Buluma appeared before the Parliamentary Public Appointments Committee where she implicated Zamba as the brains behind some dubious contracts around procurement and shipping of petroleum products into the country.
The scathing revelations indicated that the SPC was pressuring Buluma into awarding fuel supply contracts to a list of companies without following procedures.
Buluma revealed to the Parliamentary Committee that in one of the deals, she was forced to involve a person identified only as ‘Chief’ from Nigeria and some few Malawian fixers.
Buluma gave an account of how she was dragged into questionable meetings with some suppliers by the embattled board chairperson. She further revealed that the meetings had no clear agenda apart from forcing NOCMA to endorse ready-made contracts with new suppliers without following laid out procedures.
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What stood as a surprising element in all this was that in the midst of this barrage of accusations, Zamba was accorded a chance to appear before the same Parliamentary Committee but she refused on several occasions.
On top of the fuel saga, Zamba is also mired in several other shady deals among which is the controversial US$6.8 billion Bridgin Foundation development contract, that later transpired to be bogus.
She was also involved in the East Bridge fertilizer deal and the infamous Barkaat Butchery that was to supply fertilizer to Malawi.
“When PAC walked into State House last week to discuss Zamba’s fate with the Head of State, they did so fully understanding how untenable her position has become to the larger development goals set by the Tonse Alliance,” said our impeccable source.
Among others, the quasi-religious body applauded Chakwera for making some bold decisions including the devaluation of the kwacha and PAC chairperson, Patrick Thawale told the media that despite the painful impact of the devaluation, this will have some long term economic benefits.
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