Mutharika elevates T/A Khombedza to Senior Chief

President Peter Mutharika on Monday elevated Traditional Authority (T/A) Khombedza to Senior Chief.

Mutharika made the announcement in Salima when he inaugurated Salima Sugar Factory.

He said the promotion was with effect from July 1 2016, adding he kept the news under wraps because he wanted to bring the news to the Chief as a surprise.

Mutharika described T/A Khombedza as loyal to his people.

He said: “I congratulate T/A Khombedza on being promoted to Senior Chief. He has been good to his people, [ensures] equality in land distribution and [is] a leader who has brought a lot of development initiatives; he really deserves to be promoted,” said the President.

Commenting on the current national hunger situation, Mutharika reiterated that nobody will die of hunger.

“Government is ensuring that nobody should die of hunger. You can check with National Food Reserve Agency, we have more maize there and Admarc [Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation] has already started ordering maize from other countries to help people,” he said.

In his remarks Senior Chief Khombedza said nobody died of hunger in his area during the last season.

He also refuted claims that the place where the factory was built was grabbed from local people in the district, saying everyone who had a piece of land there was duly compensated.

“The place was idle, proper procedures were followed to get this land and nobody was abused,” he said.