BT North community furious over MP

Some concerned community members from Blantyre North Constituency  have accused their legislator Francis Phiso of bypassing a project implementation committee on the construction of Mdeka Police Unit in the area.

On Tuesday, the community members summoned the  Member of Parliament (MP) to explain how he used K19 million from the controversial K4 billion MPs development fund meant for the construction of the police unit.

The new police unit under construction, replaced the old one demolished by members of the community last year after they were infuriated by police reluctance to help victims of an armed robbery.

Community project implementation committee chairperson Juma Kachale said the parliamentarian has failed to account for the funds, saying the project guidelines specified that the council would be directly supervising the project.

But speaking after the meeting, Phiso dismissed the people’s concerns, saying they were misguided on the guidelines of the current project.

“The people here thought that the project funds would be handled by the community itself. But the district commissioner for Blantyre Bennet Nkasala [who was also in attendance] came to clarify that the guidelines for this project were different. As such, it is the council that will be buying materials for the project,” he said.

Nkasala refused to comment at the event, and when later contacted by phone he asked for a questionnaire. However, Traditional Authority (T/A) Chigalu promised to hold awareness meetings with his subjects.