MPs, councillors walk out of Lilongwe council meeting

Councillors and members of Parliament (MPs) in Lilongwe District Council on Monday walked out of a full council meeting in protest over the presence of two councillors banned from attending the meeting.

Before council chairperson Peter Chikuse read the agenda for the meeting, Lilongwe Msinja North MP Lingson Belekanyama (Malawi Congress Party-MCP) asked councillors Moses Chidzungu Gama of Katope Ward and Yohane Kachingwe of Dzanzi Ward to leave the meeting for dumping their party, MCP.

“I heard on the radio that the two have joined the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] against the will of the people and the party that sponsored them into power. I would, therefore, like to request them through the chair to leave the room or else we will all walk out,” said Belekanyama.

Lilongwe North East MP Maxwell Thyolera (MCP) stood in support of Belekanyama, saying the action of the two could only stand if they had been voted on an independent ticket.

The council then resolved to vote on whether to keep the two in the meeting.

Before voting, Lilongwe district commissioner (DC) Charles Makanga advised the council against forcing the two out of the meeting.

Makanga’s advice fell on deaf ears as members voted to boot the two out of the meeting only for them to return 10 minutes later, forcing all council members to walk out.

Lilongwe District Council has 18 MPs 14 of whom were voted on MCP tickets while four were voted as independents.

Most of the independents joined MCP after the polls. n