Minister admits tensions over district council work
Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Kondwani Nankhumwa has conceded that some governance demarcations which merged certain emerging towns and rural centres in Malawi have caused serious operational challenges needing urgent remedies.
He said this during question time in the National Assembly in Lilongwe on Friday when Lilongwe South West member of Parliament (MP) Peter Chakhwantha (Malawi Congress Party–MCP) challenged the minister to review the Local Government Amendment Act of 2010 and come up with strategies that will iron out problems the demarcations have caused.
Chakhwantha spoke in a supplementary question to Nankhumwa after MP for Balaka Central East Aufi Mpaweni (United Democratic Front–UDF) had vehemently complained that the administrative merger of Liwonde and Machinga was causing tension that was reaching a boiling point.
Mpaweni said the crux of the tension is that Machinga officials are accused of over-reaching their limits and collecting taxes and fees in Liwonde. He warned that if the practice continues, Liwonde officials will drag the ‘intruders’ to court through an injunction in January next year.
A more dramatic case emerged soon after Chakhwantha’s proposal for a policy review.
Dowa East MP Richard Chimwendo Banda (MCP) rose and warned that if Lilongwe District Council officials do not stop over-reaching in their revenue-collection efforts by intruding into Dowa District boundaries, people of Dowa may use unorthodox means of resolving the issue –through mystical powers of their ancestors.
He said: “For your own information, we, the people of Dowa, decided to give Lilongwe a district [status]. The whole of this place was Dowa. So, we decided to give Salima and Lilongwe [our district territories].
“But what is happening now is that Lilongwe District Council and City Council officials want to penetrate up to after Lumbadzi River. So, honourable minister, can you, please intervene? Otherwise, you know we have got different means and ways in Dowa of settling our own issues [including]—using ancestral powers.” n
