A powerful politician–allegedly–took her three children away from her home while she was battling for life in hospital. An orphanage solicited a death certificate declaring her dead and gave her children up for adoption. But her death certificate was fake. She neither died nor consented to the theft of her children.
JULIUS MBEŴE and MILIMO CHITSULO
Due to a court order protecting victims and witnesses in a human trafficking case, we won’t mention some of the people named in this investigation. Instead, we will use aliases for some of the victims who are subject to a court protection order in our possession. Unless where stated, the rest of the names are real.
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Agness (her real name has been changed to protect her) was born forty-three years ago at Chilimba Village in Mulanje District in abject poverty. Like the majority of rural Malawians, she was happy and a farmer. She bore three children.
She was vulnerable.
It’s her alleged death, and that of her ex-husband, that is in dispute. Staged by people interested in sending her children into the hands of a wealthy American couple, she and her ex-husband from whom she was separated, were declared dead in 2016.
She was admitted to a hospital for an illness. When she came back home, her three children were gone. The three —all of whom we are not naming—were declared orphans.
“When I was discharged, I returned home to find that my children were no longer there.
“My grandmother told me that they had been taken to Good Samaritan Children’s Home by Mrs. Patricia Kaliati,” Agness told PIJ in an interview.
Initially discouraged by her grandmother and uncle from visiting the children at the orphanage, Agness forced her way to the Good Samaritan Children’s Home one day and saw her children, reportedly in good health.
“I was relieved to see them, but little did I know what would follow,” she said.
What would follow is a story of agony, the theft of her children, one by one, by people who claim to protect the most vulnerable but whom evidence of this investigation suggests are pocketing money, selling the very vulnerable.
Documents reviewed by PIJ, among other things, two death certificates produced by the Registrar General’s office, a payment agreement with adoption agents, court orders, statements to police by witnesses, plus interviews with the victim, lawyers, and other stakeholders, suggest Agness is a victim of human trafficking by agents financially gaining from unethical international adoption.
The investigation suggests several players—possibly agents, lawyers, court officials, officials from the Registrar General, and staff members at the orphanage—committed a range of crimes during this human trafficking case, including forgery, altering false documents, giving false evidence, corruption, and abuse of office. Such crimes carry lengthy prison sentences.
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The documents also include Agness’ statement, which mentions the former Minister of Gender, Community Development & Social Welfare, Patricia Kaliati’s involvement, and the role of the Good Samaritan Children’s Home in the case, among other things.
PIJ also reviewed a payment agreement in which the adoptive parent paid $24,120 (approximately 42 million kwacha) to facilitate the adoption.
A PIJ investigation in 2023 exposed how illegal adoptions were a booming industry, with one adoption costing would-be parents as much as $40,000 in fees, fueling unethical practices by lawyers, agents, and orphanages seeking to cash in on the trade.
At the centre of the allegations is Klaus Chikufenji, a Blantyre-based businessperson and aspirant for parliamentary office already answering charges on allegations of human trafficking.
Also named in the investigation is former Minister of Gender, Community Development & Social Welfare, Patrica Kaliati, who reportedly had close ties with the Good Samaritan Children’s Home. She allegedly met some of the adoptive parents, including the family at the centre of this investigation, before the adoption.
(Kaliati did not respond to PIJ's questions on the matter. Several efforts to speak to her about her involvement in the case proved futile.)
Among the documents sourced by the PIJ in the investigation includes a police statement submitted to local police on September 6, 2024, by Priscilla Garner, an American woman who adopted the children.
PIJ also sourced the purported death certificates of both the children’s mother and father, legal documents under the Births and Deaths Registration Act.
The purported death certificate for the mother claims she passed away on July 20, 2016, at Mulanje District Hospital due to malaria. The ex-husband’s certificate claims he died in October 2014.
While PIJ did not interview the ex-husband, various sources interviewed in this investigation confirmed he is alive.
A close look at the certificate, however, reveals some discrepancies. Agness, for example, is cited to have died aged 28 in 2016. However, in a police statement, she gave last year, her age was recorded as 43.
The National Registration Bureau, which is responsible for the production of death certificates, through a spokesperson, said it never produced the purported death certificate.
"The NRB process death registration process is watertight and to process a fraudulent Death Certificate is extremely difficult. To register any death, especially from the community, NRB engages an informant at length to ascertain that indeed a death occurred. It also ensures that either the Village Head or Religious Leader has stamped and signed the form. As regards death in health facilities, the initial processes are done in the presence of the dead body," spokesperson Norman Fulatira told PIJ.
He said, that after investigations, the NRB did not find the certificate in its system.
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Priscilla Garner’s relationship with Good Samaritan began in September 2016, when she accompanied Thandiwe Chikufenji, a manager at Good Samaritan Ministries on a trip to Mulanje. (Thandiwe Chikufenji, the President and Director of the Good Samaritan did not respond to PIJ questions on the matter.)
According to her statement to investigators, the trip aimed to assess five children for placement at the Good Samaritan’s orphanage.
In October 2016, She saw a photo of Agness’ male child on a Facebook page titled “Miracles for Malawi,” where children in need of sponsors were shown and began the process of adopting the child. The adoption was completed in January 2020, according to her statement to police.
Shortly after, Garner began the process of adopting Agness’ second child. In her mind, she says, she was rescuing children in dire situations, found in a dilapidated home with no roof or doors. Later, she attempted to adopt the eldest of the children, aged 16 but failed due to legal factors. She would then attempt to register her as a foster child, again failing in that endeavor, before resorting to just sending her to school in the United States where she could be close to her siblings.
Garner says she had no clue, the mother of the children was alive but during the adoption process, the U.S. Embassy in Lilongwe raised red flags on the validity of the death certificates of the parents of the children, according to the police statement.
Those certificates, she told police, were obtained by Klaus Chikufenji, the brother of the Director of Good Samaritan Orphanage, where the children were living before the adoption.
Overnight, Chikufenji produced the documents at a cost of MK35,000, Garner told investigators.
“I don't know how he was able to obtain the information and who he dealt with to get it so quickly, but I was completely unaware of how such documents are produced here in Malawi, as it was also done for the three other adoptive families who were also with us,” she said.
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Chikufenji’s alleged involvement in the securing of the documents is an interesting development.
In May last year, police arrested Chikufenji, for allegedly conspiring with Immigration officers to facilitate the issuance of passports for minors intended for adoption abroad, according to The Sunday Times. Allegedly, he solicited $1 100 from an American, Jean Tiroa, claiming he would process a passport for a minor Tiroa wanted to adopt from Malawi.
Around the same period, April 2024, Chikufenji also allegedly, obtained 1.2 million kwacha from Ricardo Noguera Magalhaes to obtain another passport for another minor Magalhaes wanted to adopt. Both cases are yet to be concluded in court, leaving Chikufenji free to currently campaign for political office and run a string of businesses.
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Chikufenji, far left
Klaus Chikufenji, who is currently on police bail following his previous arrest on the separate alleged involvement in human trafficking, denied any wrongdoing in an interview.
“There is consent from the village, especially family members, confirming that the parents had indeed died,” said Chikufenji. “As for the death certificates, they were not hastily produced as alleged by Garner. This can be verified by cross-checking the dates of death and registration on the documents.”
Chikufenji sees no scandal or crime in what has happened. He alleges the whole matter is being blown, out of proportion, “by some white people who want to kick out her sister from running the Good Samaritan Orphanage.”
“There appears to be a coordinated effort by certain white donors to undermine Thandiwe to take over the management of the orphanage. These individuals are making baseless allegations, including claims that I falsified death certificates,” said Chikufenji, a businessman, music promoter, and aspiring member of parliament.
The problem with that kind of defense, though, is that Chikufenji does not deny being involved in the process of acquiring the death certificates. Nor can he deny the fact that Agness is alive. Asked whether he was aware that the children’s biological mother was alive or not during the adoption process, Chikufenji did not offer a direct answer. Instead, he stressed, the villagers’ statements were taken as credible evidence.
“To set the record straight, I was never involved in the day-to-day running of the orphanage. My only role was limited to driving Priscilla in my vehicle to and from Lilongwe,” he told PIJ.
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Circumstances on how exactly Garner learned the existence of the biological mother are murky. Some sources say Garner learned about the existence of the biological mother when the mother showed up at Good Samaritan orphanage days just before she departed from Malawi with the adopted child but she, allegedly, proceeded with the adoption anyway.
Her statement to investigators says US embassy officials raised a red flag about the death certificates during the adoption process but she traveled with the child to the United States and only acted on the matter when a relative of the biological mother sent her a picture of the child. The family had been attempting to reunite the adopted child and her siblings.
The U.S. State Department’s Office of Children’s Issues is the agency at the embassy responsible for reviewing the adoptions that come through the embassy after the local courts have certified the adoptions.
In August 2024, Garner reportedly met the children’s biological mother and brother in Malawi in a bid to finally know “the truth” and reportedly reported the findings to the U.S. Embassy.
“I feel so bad for the birth mom being purposely shunned and her children taken away without her prior consent and being lied about with her fake death,” she said.
Garner’s lawyer, Marshal Chilenga, told PIJ his clients only learned about the existence of the biological parents when she traveled alongside the children to Malawi, way after completing the adoption process.
“Our clients became aware of the existence of the biological mother during one of the visits with the children to Malawi,” said Chilenga.
Chilenga, who denied involvement in the adoption process, could not divulge the identity of the lawyer who facilitated the adoption of the children including certifying the death certificates and the court process.
“I was not part of the adoption,” Chilenga said.
Statistics from a previous PIJ investigation show Good Samaritan is one of the orphanages where children are regularly adopted. The orphanage runs a separate organization called Miracles for Malawi “designed to be a conduit of love and support for Good Samaritan Children's Home in Malawi, Africa,” according to its Facebook page.
On the Facebook page, various children are showcased for possible adoption and support. The orphanage’s website has since been suspended and officials refused to comment on the matter, referring PIJ to lawyer Charles Chayekha whom officials said was responsible for the adoption process.
When contacted, Chayenda refused to comment on the matter, saying his client had not authorized him to divulge details of the case.
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Indeed, one of the intriguing aspects of the story is that members of the Agness family allegedly wrote a letter to the orphanage confirming that the children were orphans.
The man most fingered for the letter, is Maxwell Chagunda, uncle to Agness.
“I did not knowingly falsify documents. I suspect that an official from the Ministry who visited us might have been involved in creating the death certificates. I was not directly involved in that process,” said Chagunda.
Agness’ uncle, Maxwell Chagunda
When PIJ caught up with him in Thyolo, Chagunda said the decision to present the children as orphans was a family decision made alongside traditional leaders in the village.
“The family, along with a now-deceased Chief, wrote a letter confirming the children’s status as orphans,” he told PIJ.
One possibility is that the family members might have enticed the family to give away the children to either the agents or Garner herself.
Chagunda himself mentioned in the PIJ interview that Garner visited the family on several occasions and generously donated cash, goats, and other items — an act outlawed by the law for fear that it might influence the decisions of such families.
Chagunda, however, denied instructing the children to remain silent about their mother’s status but said the family’s decision might have led to misunderstandings.
“We didn’t specifically tell the children to hide the truth about their mother. However, the narrative of them being orphans was part of the process,” he said.
Chagunda collaborated with Agness’ version of the alleged involvement of Kaliati but said the ex-minister was not involved in the actual adoption and didn't know the parents of the children were alive.
“I was doing some piecework at Madam Kaliati’s home when officials from Good Samaritan Ministries frequently visited to identify children for the orphanage. One day, I accompanied them and mentioned the children at my home who were also in need. The officials assured me they would pass by to assess the situation,” Chagunda said.
According to Chagunda, the family’s financial struggles were a key factor in the decision to place the children in the orphanage.
“When the officials came to take the children, the family decided to send them as orphans. Later, she (Garner) began visiting us regularly alongside Good Samaritan officials, often bringing items like goats, which we shared as a family,” he said.
Chagunda believes the current controversy stems from family disputes and jealousy. “I suspect the situation escalated because of the items we received from Linda and the news that I might one day travel to America to visit the children,” he said. “This seems to have caused tension and led to where we are now,” he told PIJ.
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The placement of children under alternative care is governed by the Child Care, Protection, and Justice Act and the Adoption of Children Act.
These statutes outline several options for child placement, including institutional care, foster care, and adoption. However, questions about the integrity of these processes have emerged, particularly in the case of children.
The development comes as the country’s foreign adoption services continue to be dodged by various scandals.
The US embassy in Lilongwe, without specifically commenting on the case, told PIJ the embassy was working on ensuring adoptions were ethical and legal.
“We work to ensure that intercountry adoption remains a viable option for children in need of permanency throughout the world. We implement and support safeguards to ensure intercountry adoptions are safe, ethical, legal, and transparent and that children and families are protected in the process,” Grant Phillip, the Embassy’s Public Affairs Officer, said an in emailed response to PIJ questions.
Among others, he said agencies facilitating intercountry adoptions ought to be accredited and must comply with stringent federal regulations aimed at ensuring adherence to legal and ethical standards.
“After a final adoption or a legal placement for adoption, as part of the process for applying for a visa, a consular officer will carefully review whether the adoption has met all the requirements under the laws of both Malawi and the United States,” Phillip added.
According to Enock Bonongwe, the Director of Social Welfare in the Ministry of Gender, the department will investigate the matter and take appropriate measures following the PIJ revelations, describing incidents of staged death of parents as uncommon.
“We are getting this information for the first time,” Bonongwe said. “Of course, Good Samaritan is a reputable institution, but if third parties are involved in the process, one wonders why they are doing it. If it turns out that there was some sort of syndicate, it would be a serious disciplinary matter.”
He described the alleged involvement of Chikufenji as a red flag, adding biological parents' or guardians’ consent is a critical step in the adoption procedures.
“I wouldn’t say that personally that I have encountered such a situation but it is a possibility in the sense that some of these documents are sourced by a lawyer and some of these documents may also be brought in by ourselves as social workers and every human being has their level of credibility on how they handle the matter, so it is a professional matter, an issue of integrity,” said Bonongwe.
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Agness might have lost her children but sources close to the investigation believe there is also a credible threat on her life, as the key and main witness in a possible human trafficking investigation that, possibly, involves some very powerful figures.
To protect Agness and other witnesses in the case, the Chief Resident Magistrate's Court in Lilongwe, on 7th October 2024 issued a Protection Order under Section 48 (2) of the Trafficking in Persons Act (No. 3 of 2015) after some of the alleged conspirators in the case made direct threats on her life.
The court ordered the state to relocate her to a secret location.
When PIJ tracked her, Agness told PIJ, for years, she remained silent out of fear about the matter but decided it was time to speak out. “I feared retaliation from my family, especially my uncle,” she said.
She said she believed her uncle, Maxwell Chagunda, and grandmother schemed to send her children in for adoption but said she was never consulted once about the decision.
“I later discovered that my uncle, Maxwell Chagunda, and my grandmother had claimed that both my husband and I were deceased,” she said. “It was all done behind my back.”
She said she believes her uncle has benefited financially from the adoptions, saying the uncle confronted her when he discovered she was now speaking out on the matter, accusing her of “spoiling a well-kept secret.”
“My uncle and grandmother received money from the adoptive family through my children,” she said.
But Agness could not be cowed. Years of silent pain evaporated the moment Agness learned the actual implications of the adoption process– that she would never be allowed to have access to her children –again.
“I had to fight for my children and expose the truth,” she said, “My uncle has been hostile ever since I revealed the truth.”
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This article was produced by the Platform for Investigative Journalism, a non-profit public interest centre for investigative journalism.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
JULIUS MBEŴE is a journalist based in Lilongwe who regularly writes for the PIJ. He has previously worked for YONECO FM. Email: [email protected] X: @CaleoneMbewe
MILIMO CHITSULO is a regular writer for the PlJ. His reporting on sexual abuses in tea and macadamia nuts estates in Mulanje and Thyolo led to international lawsuits against the estates and won him Malawi’s Investigative Journalist of the Year award in 2023. Email: [email protected]
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