Youths want Mzuzu mayor to resign

Mzuzu Youth Anti-Corruption Movement has asked the Mzuzu City Mayor Gift Desire Nyirenda to resign from the position within seven days following his arrest and allegations that he defiled his niece.

In a letter we have seen, youth activist Mathews Kajani said the mayor must resign from his position in order to protect the council from moral ambiguities and demonstrate servant leadership.

He said: “Our argument is that Mzuzu City Council is a public institution, and as a public institution, it must be protected from any moral ambiguities that might arise from the case itself.

“For the mayor to demonstrate servant leadership, he needs to step away from exercising the duties of the mayor to protect the institution from the moral question.”

Kajani further said as youth activists, they have put in place measures to force the mayor out of his position if he chooses not to step aside.

“We are aware that the local government does not stop at the mayor’s office, they are other authorities above him. We are, therefore, prepared to take the case higher up the hierarchy in order to force him out if he does not resign willingly,” Kajani said.

In an interview yesterday, Nyirenda said he would not comment on calls for him to resign.

“I will not comment on the issue as of now,” he said briefly.

Police in Mzuzu arrested Nyirenda on August 14 this year at Nkhorongo in Luwinga Township in the city where he resides with his family and the alleged victim, who is a relation to his wife.

Nyirenda, who served as deputy mayor from 2019, was elected city father on a Malawi Congress Party ticket on December 17 2021 after he defeated the then mayor Brian Nyasulu of UTM Party.