Minister summons BCC, MHC bosses over houses’ demolition

Malawi’s Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Tarsizio Gowelo, operating under “orders from above”, summoned senior management of Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) and Blantyre City Council (BCC) to explain why they demolished illegal residential structures at Mpingwe Hill in Limbe.

The impromptu meeting, which took place at Blantyre City Council (BCC) Civic Centre Offices last Sunday, followed grievances that some affected people allegedly expressed to President Peter Mutharika through his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) machinery.

MHC and BCC enforcement team razed about 200 illegal structures that were being developed on prime land in the up-market Mpingwe low density residential area.

About 90 hectares of land belonging to MHC was encroached by the people who were slowly extending to the nearby BCC and privately owned land.

The meeting was, among others, attended by BCC chief executive officer Ted Nandolo and his director of town planning and estates services Costly Chanza, MHC chief executive officer Wezi Mkandawire, Traditional Authority Machinjiri, unnamed senior officials from Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL), Limbe and Blantyre urban police station officer and officer-in-charge respectively.

In an interview, Chanza confirmed being summoned by the minister but declined to divulge information on their discussion, saying the minister was on a fact-finding mission on matters that led to the enforcement exercise.

“The minister indeed called for an emergency meeting which involved all stakeholders on the matter. Basically, he wanted to hear the nitty-gritties of the operation,” he said.

Mkandawire, in a separate interview, also confirmed meeting the minister but refused to disclose anything.

But reports indicate that the President directed Gowelo to summon the stakeholders’ bosses to explain their action after some DPP official reported that they were doing so to discredit the DPP government.

After the meeting, the team was asked to come up with a comprehensive report on the issue which was to be sent to President Mutharika.

Over 300 people whose structures were demolished marched to Limbe Police Station on Monday to complain about the matter and further threatened to also march to MHC to protest against their action.

According to Mkandawire, the people encroached the MHC land immediately after the May 20 Tripartite Elections and have mostly been constructing their structures during the night.