By Edwin Mauluka

The suspended Principal Officer for the Public Service Pensions Trust Fund (PSPTF), George Jim, has told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that former Secretary to the President and Cabinet (SPC) Colleen Zamba forced the fund to fast-track the purchase of the Amaryllis Hotel within a month, despite a prior board resolution to halt the deal.

Appearing before the ongoing PAC inquiry, Jim said Zamba’s involvement became evident during a meeting held in Mzuzu on March 6, 2024. The meeting was attended by then Director of Legal Services at the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), Chizaso Nyirongo, now PSPTF board chairperson.

Jim explained that the meeting was convened after the PSPTF board had, on January 7, 2024, resolved to suspend the hotel purchase following recommendations from investment analysis reports.

“The meeting was chaired by the SPC at the time, Madam Colleen Zamba. She indicated there was pressure from the seller and that litigation was pending,” Jim told the committee.

He said Zamba overturned the board’s earlier decision by directing the fund to conclude the transaction within a month.

PAC hears Zamba fingered in ‘forced’ fast-tracking of Amaryllis Hotel purchase MediaGov — ***ZambaZamba accused of forcing fast-tracked Amaryllis Hotel purchase.***

Jim further testified that Zamba instructed that all matters between PSPTF and OPC be handled through Nyirongo and that nominations for trustees would also come from OPC. This, he said, led to the dissolution of the previous board and the reconstitution of a new one chaired by Nyirongo.

According to Jim, Nyirongo’s eventual appointment was influenced by Zamba.

“We repeatedly engaged the Office of the Director of Legal Services to provide nominees for the board, but the process took unnecessarily long despite our persistence. This was damaging to governance at the fund,” he said.

Jim described the March 6, 2024 meeting as a turning point that marked the beginning of what he termed “suspicious processes” surrounding the acquisition.

He noted that concerns were raised during the meeting about the feasibility of completing the transaction within the proposed time frame without involving the fund manager.

“The processes required more time than what was being demanded,” he said.

Jim also admitted authoring several letters to reassure the hotel owners during the period when the fund was operating without a board. However, he stressed that all correspondence — including a letter dated March 18, 2024 — was written under duress.

“The directives were coming from the Office of the President and Cabinet through Madam Colleen Zamba. It was clear we had to comply,” he said, adding that some communication bypassed his office entirely.

In July 2025, Jim said he reported the alleged political interference to the Registrar of Financial Institutions at the Reserve Bank of Malawi during an on-site examination.

“I raised the issue in a one-on-one meeting with a chief examiner, although I am not certain whether it was captured in the interim report,” he said.

At the time, said Jim, he was hopeful the regulator would fully appreciate the gravity of the concerns raised.

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Also Read: Amaryllis Deal: Mbeta says Zamba-backed OPC pushed Fund despite risks