When Malawians woke up to the news that government had signed a US$6.8 billion (K11.4 trillion) deal with 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 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 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, 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 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.
