The National Economic Empowerment Fund (NEEF) has been exposed as a major financial failure after revelations that years of poor management under the previous administration left the institution with over K206 billion in unpaid loans.
As of January 26, 2026, beneficiaries owed NEEF about K206 billion, money that was meant to help Malawians start businesses and improve their livelihoods but is now at risk of being permanently lost.
The newly appointed board says the crisis is a direct result of serious governance and operational failures, which allowed public funds to be disbursed without proper controls, tracking systems or effective debt recovery mechanisms.
NEEF Board Chairperson James Naphambo said the fund was run with weak oversight and poor accountability, making it easy for borrowers to take loans and disappear without paying back.
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"There were serious gaps in how loans were tracked and recovered. In many cases, there was no proper tracing of beneficiaries and debt collection measures were either weak or completely non-existent. This has left the fund exposed and unable to recover money meant for economic empowerment," Naphambo said.
In simple terms, billions of kwacha were given out with no reliable system to know who took the money, where it went, or whether it would ever be recovered.
What was supposed to be a national empowerment tool has now turned into a symbol of state failure, where public money was treated casually and left to leak through institutional negligence.
During the board's orientation, State House Service Design Re-engineering Specialist in the Manifesto Implementation Unit, George Matwipiri, admitted that NEEF had drifted away from its mandate and must now be realigned with government policy.
"State-owned institutions must be managed professionally and with a clear understanding of their mandate. NEEF programmes must support national development priorities and deliver real economic empowerment," Matwipiri said.
The new board says it has started reforms to strengthen internal controls, improve loan tracking and introduce serious debt recovery systems, but the damage is already severe.
With K206 billion outstanding, NEEF now stands as one of the clearest examples of how public institutions collapse when oversight disappears and accountability is ignored, leaving ordinary Malawians to pay the price for years of careless and irresponsible governance.
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