The Ministry of Local Government has said it is closely monitoring the situation at Chiradzulu District Council and is also continuing engaging with the councillors in making sure that issues at the council are fully resolved.
For at least a month, the council has seen a hostile relationship between the District Commissioner, Memory Kaleso, and the 10 councillors who among others wanted Kaleso out of the council.
The development forced the ministry to engage the Minis try of Justice for a legal opinion on whether to dissolve the council as provided for in the Local Government Act.
Local Government Spokesperson, Muhlabase Mughogho, said the legal opinion was given that the ministry can go ahead dissolving the council. However, it was after the councillors apologised for their actions after meeting the Malawi Local Government Association (Malga) through its Chairperson, Councillor Wild Ndipo.
But Mughogho said if hostility emerges again in the council, the ministry will not hesitate to apply the determination by the Ministry of Justice.
“You will recall that our ministry engaged Malga to institute a committee that helped resolve the issues at the council. Just before the legal opinion was delivered to our ministry, Chiradzulu councillors opted to reconcile with the DC. So as the ministry, we are still keeping a good eye on the council. I f anything emerges again, we will apply what we already have from the Ministry of Justice because we already have the legal backing,” Mughogho said.
Chiradzulu District Council Chairperson, Emmanuel Kamwendo, confirmed in an interview yesterday, they resolved their disagreements with their DC and the rest of the whole secretariat.
“We discussed and all those issues have been resolved. We are back to our business and all is going on well. There are no grudges. There was an issue that the DC should be transferred but we all agreed, as we listened to each other, that we are now in good terms and that bad blood is no longer there,” Kamwendo said.
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