Councillors agree to open LCC offices
Councillors at Lilongwe City Council (LCC) have agreed to open offices for the chief executive officer John Chome and two other directors responsible for finance and administration following the intervention of the Ministry of Local Government.
The decision came after the ministry convened a meeting with councillors on Friday.
In an interview yesterday, Deputy minister of Local Government Halima Daud said the Ministry advised the councillors to follow procedures.
She said: “We advised them to follow procedures because we know they were angry, but it is important to follow procedures.
“So, the offices will be opened tomorrow [today].”
Malawi Local Government Association (Malga) executive director Hadrod Mkandawire, who also attended the meeting, said it was pleasing to note the councillors’ willingness to come to a roundtable.
He said: “We agree with the ministry that councillors should have followed the procedure. Sealing offices was simply unacceptable because they do not have such powers.
“Both councillors and executive management are our members; hence, we get worried when they have such misunderstanding.”
Two weeks ago, councillors sealed off offices for the three officials after the council secretariat sealed Malawi Congress Party offices in Lilongwe which was said to be an embarrassment to the party.
But Lilongwe City Council mayor Juliana Kaduya in an earlier interview claimed that they had sealed the offices because of management’s decision to delay salaries of staff members.
In a letter dated November 26 2021, Chome communicated to staff members that due to low cash flow, salaries for November would be phased, starting with employees on the lowest grade.
