President Lazarus Chakwera has appointed a man named in the National Oil Company of Malawi (NOCMA) scandal into the Presidential Private Sector Council (PPSC) which the president has established to spearhead economic transformation agenda and economic recovery in Malawi.
The businessperson, Kruger Nyambalo Phiri, is on the list of 16 people appointed into the council. According to a statement by Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba, Nyambalo Phiri is founder of BantuWorld which is based in South Africa.
In his new year’s message on Sunday, Chakwera said he the council is composed of “a group of respected private sector leaders he will be interacting with directly to appreciate the effectiveness of his administration’s policies in creating jobs and wealth for Malawians.”
Nyambalo was in November last year named by former NOCMA acting chief executive Helen Buluma as one of the persons who was championing a suspicious financing deal for fuel supply.
Buluma in November last year appeared before a joint parliamentary committee where she said she was receiving pressure from Zamba to fraudulently award fuel contracts to companies identified by Zamba who is also NOCMA board chairperson.
According to Buluma, she was also called into a meeting where the Principal Secretary for Energy said they had identified funding for fuel purchase.
At the meeting, Nyambalo presented a financing agreement that included NOCMA in the agreement and it was for the borrowing of US$250 billion for fuel supply.
“Nyambalo Phiri was the one behind this. He chaired the meeting. And this was about borrowing US$250 billion. We cannot just do it as NOCMA.
“I was not sure if the Reserve Bank knew, if the Ministry of Finance knew. It was very painful,” said Buluma.
She added that she spoke to NOCMA director of finance about the issue and the director warned that they would end up getting arrested if they went ahead to borrow such an amount on behalf of NOCMA without due diligence.
Buluma said despite being pressurized and accused of undermining fuel supply by sitting on the financing deal, NOCMA did not borrow the money.
Nyambalo did not respond to the allegations but he has now been appointed into the council which will be working closely with Chakwera.
Other members of the council include Lekani Katandula – President of the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI); Madalo Minofu – International Finance Corporation, Country Manager for Ethiopia, Zambia and Malawi; Dr. Brave Nthakomwa Ndisale – Former Country Representative Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), South Africa; and Dr. Betchani Tchereni – Executive Dean of Faculty of Commerce & Associate Professor of Economics;
Others are Grain Malunga – Mining Expert; Ronald Ngwira – Managing Director of Pyxus Limited; Hitesh Anadkat – Founder, First Capital Bank; Charles Kamoto – Managing Director at Airtel Malawi Limited; Edith Jiya – Group Chief Executive Officer, Old Mutual Malawi Limited; and Ngabaghila Chatata – Founder, Thanthwe Farms;
There is also Maness Nkhata – Founder, LAPE; Rachel Sibande – Founder, mHub; Dorothy Chapeama – Chief Executive Officer, Reunion Insurance; Lumumba Mbekeani – Director at NAVTEQ (USA); and Prof. Mloza Banda – University of Eswatini.
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