Paramount chiefs can end wrangles’

Malawi Government says paramount chiefs in the country have a crucial role to play in finding lasting solutions to chieftaincy wrangles rocking the country and negatively impacting on development work.

Minister of Transport and Public Works Francis Kasaila said this on Monday at the burial of the late Chief Mlolo of Nsanje.

He asked the bereaved royal family to follow their tradition in identifying the successor to the departed Mlolo, real name Darton Anyezi.

He bemoaned increasing cases of chieftaincy wrangles flooding the country’s courts, saying this affects succession plans.

Kasaila said some development works in some areas have stalled because of lack of leadership in the communities, something he blamed on failure by the royal families to identify the rightful heir to the throne.

“Let me challenge the country’s paramount chiefs to devise measures of addressing issues of chieftaincy wrangles. Government values the role chiefs play in the delivery of developmental work,” said Kasaila.

Nsanje district commissioner (DC) Atanazio Chibwana echoed Kasaila’s sentiments, saying his council has been overwhelmed by cases of chieftaincy wrangles which, he admitted, have had a negative impact on the implementation of development projects.

“It is our hope that the royal families of the departed Chief Mlolo will follow the right procedures on the issue of succession so that no wrangles arise in the process,” said Chibwana.

Chief Mlolo died at his Mlolo headquarters on Saturday aged 101 after a long illness.