Urban chiefs versus the residents
There is noise in the courtroom before the judge enters: Time is over for town thieves! Ogulitsa malo inu! Odya mmaliro inu! Yes, clowns of politicians have been reduced to size!
Court clerk: Order! Order! This is not a village or town gathering. It is an honourable court of law. Silence! All stand as his Lordship justice Mbadwa walks in to take his seat. (The court falls into a deep silence)
Justice Mbadwa: (Coughs and adjusts his spectacles). May the representatives of town chiefs, the complainants in this matter, stand and present their case.
Village Head Chiwambe: I am one of the town chiefs who are daily being insulted and ridiculed after the Ministry of Local Government declared that we cannot handle cases in a city, municipality or township except with written approval of the appropriate council established under the Local Government (Urban Areas) Act.
But my lord, is it my fault that I have royal blood pumping in my veins? Why should I suffer for lording over people whether in towns or cities which were built on our ancestral land? You know without us there will be total chaos. Who is going to ensure order at funerals in townships? Don’t mention religious leaders to me because not all residents are religious. Some belong to the group that believe the existence of the almighty is only the imagination of oppressed as well as insecure people.
Mbadwa: Save me your lengthy lecture; what do you want this citizen court to do?
Chiwambe: In short, declare that the ministry’s directive cannot apply to us to avoid dividing the nation.
Mbadwa: Before I make my ruling, since I have always said the jurisdiction of this court is derived from people’s interests and not guided by some archaic legislation inherent in some obscure Constitution, I will allow one citizen who thinks the town chiefs’ case should be dismissed to make his submission.
Resident Mbewe: These people should not be entertained. Some of us have been victims of their tricks. They have been selling land to unsuspecting people like us only to be told later that they don’t own land in the city, yet we are not compensated. It’s mswahala (honoraria) they are after nothing else! Most of these people were just elected and they act as if they owned the world. Some of them have ended up nullifying marriages and married the estranged wives; what kind of a chief resolves an issue that way? Why should we have chiefs in this city when we have a mayor we fondly refer to in vernacular as mfumu ya mzinda? Some of these chiefs are even asking to be represented at birthday parties, kitchen top-ups and even engagement ceremonies. What greed!
Chiwambe: Muziyankhulatu bwino (Mind your language son)
Mbadwa: Order! I have heard you. It is time to make my determination. The claim that you have royal blood running in your veins is not true. If anything most of the people who are chiefs now were handed the mantle by colonialists through indirect rule as established in the 1912. The chiefs then were mainly people who licked the boots of colonialists and if you have blood running in your veins it is that of people who betrayed Malawi, traitors! What Diana Cammack, Edge Kanyongolo and Tama O’neil said on Town Chiefs in Malawi, will be cited as valid legal authority for backgrounding this case.
It is the view of this court that councillors can do the work that town chiefs are doing both at funerals and in spearheading development. Religious leaders will run funerals of believers while relations will bury their dead gentiles the way they want, after all the dead are dead. They can’t choose. By the way, if this is your ancestral land, why did you remain behind when people were being relocated?
If it is upkeep you are worried about, this court has ordered the Ministry of Local Government to give you loans as capital for business to enable you to have an alternative source of income. Siyani kupemphetsa. Case closed!
