Councillors reject DC

Thyolo District council ward councillors have rejected the deployment of Nkhotakota district commissioner (DC) Medson Matchaya to Thyolo, accusing him of gross incompetence in councils he has previously worked.

But Ministry of Local Government has dismissed the allegations.

In a letter dated July 27 2020 addressed to Ministry of Local Government Principal Secretary Charles Kalemba, co-signed by  Thyolo District Council chairperson Sandram Maulana and other councillors, the councillors claim that Matchaya has never had a good working relationship with councillors and other stakeholders such as chiefs in the councils where he was in-charge .

Reads the letter in part: “The recent evidence is Nkhotakota where he has failed to pay his own council employees for a period of 10 months resulting in the closure of his office.

“Thyolo as a district, would not want to find itself in a waste basket situation where failures are dumped. We would not be happy to accommodate someone who has been proved to be a creator of problems than solutions.”

But in an interview yesterday, Kalemba confirmed receiving the letter which he described  as “emotional and full of misinformation”.

He dismissed the councillors’ claim that Matchaya is incompetent and failed to pay Nkhotakota District Council employees for 10 months.

Kalemba clarified that Matchaya, a medical doctor who once worked as Blantyre and Nsanje district health officer (DHO), found the employees at Nkhotakota already not being paid for five months and salaries do not come from a DC.

He said: “There is no council that Dr. Matchaya failed to perform either as a DHO or a DC. Actually he is a very honest man and one of the best DCs in the country. We are going to reply accordingly.”

Matchaya is expected to replace Justin Kathumba as Thyolo DC.