Kamangila demands tax returns as Fatima Nkana defends Prince Barbershops
Renowned barber Prince Butane, widely known as Barber 1 and whose client list includes President Peter Mutharika, has caused a social media storm after purchasing a Ford Wildtrak from CFAO Malawi. The car is reportedly priced between K200 and 400 million.
Several people have questioned his source of finance. Leading the social media onslaught is whistleblower Alexious Kamangila, who demanded Barber 1 to publish his tax returns.
“Prince Barbershops Malawi, if you bought a K200 million car, it means you earned K200 million meaning you paid a minimum of K60 million in tax. Share your tax returns” Kamangila said, also making allegations of drug business and money laundering. However, the whistleblower did not substantiate his allegations with evidence.
Barber 1 customised him new car’s number plate to 1 Barber.
Some of his other clients include current Malawi Homeland Deputy Minister Norman Chisale and the current Mayor of Blantyre, Isaac Jomo Osman.
Prince has previously donated to the Malawi Police and its officers.
Malawi socialite and former Big Brother Africa representative Fatima Namasina Nkata also weighed in to defend Prince, arguing his critics were reacting out of ignorance rather than evidence.
“Success you did not witness will always look like a mystery. A man spends 13 years building something quietly, deliberately, repeatedly and the day he buys a car, everyone suddenly becomes an investigator,” Nkata said.
She argued that Barber 1 is not selling haircuts but a lifestyle, confidence and experience, with clients paying between K30,000 and K100,000 or more per visit.
Nkata estimated that with two shops serving around 25 clients each per day, Prince Barber could be racking in more than half a billion Malawi Kwacha a year in revenue before expenses.
“So the idea of a K200 million car is not an unrealistic figure. It is a function of consistency meeting scale,” she said.
She also challenged Malawians to examine their own assumptions about who is allowed to be wealthy. “We created invisible ceilings for certain professions. We decided that a barber must stay just a barber. So when someone steps outside of that script, instead of expanding our understanding, we question their legitimacy.”
Kamangila has not backed down from his allegations. Malawi24 reached out to Prince Barbershops for comment but Barber 1 had not responded by the time of publication.
