Councillors plead for extended occupancy of mayor’s house
Two Mzuzu City Council (MCC) female councillors have pleaded for extended stay in the mayor’s house they use as an office for their community-based organisation (CBO), Mzuzu Disability Organisation.
Msongwe Ward councillor Judith Chiume said in an interview on Wednesday that the CBO caters for 110 people with disabilities who learn handcraft skills and sell their products from the mayor’s house. The 110 are led by councillor Joyce Sichali, a nominated councillor who represents interests of people with disabilities at the council.
Chiume said a verbal agreement was reached in September last year between the council and the CBO to allow the latter temporarily use the mayoral house.
“We went to the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Planning and applied for land to build offices, but up to now there is no response,” she said.
MCC spokesperson MacDonald Gondwe confirmed the arrangement, but declined to comment.
The plea comes against a background of a letter dated November 27, signed by the council’s director of administration Christopher Phiri, which reads in part: “We write to remind you that we gave you a period up to 31st December 2017 within which you were expected to vacate the building, but you defied the council’s orders. You are now given a last chance to vacate the mayoral house by 31st December 2018.”
