By Isaac Salima:<\/p>\n
Senior Chief Mbwana under Themba Mbwana Chieftainship in Nkhata Bay has challenged President Peter Mutharika\u2019s elevation of Group Village Head (GVH) Siyalimba to Sub- Traditional Authority, accusing the country\u2019s First Citizen of flouting procedure.<\/p>\n
Mutharika last month promoted Siyalimba who has been GVH since 1951.<\/p>\n
Nkhata Bay District Commissioner (DC) Rodney Simwaka on January 25 2019 wrote Siyalimba informing him about the elevation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am pleased to inform you that His Excellency the State President Peter Mutharika has elevated you to the position of Sub-Traditional Authority. In view of this development, you are asked to prepare a date for elevation ceremony and inform me accordingly,\u201d<\/em> the letter reads in part.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
But the development has not gone down well with the Mbwana chieftainship, which, in 2016, recommended to Mutharika that either GVH Mundango or GVH Chikondo be elevated.<\/p>\n
Suspicious of the development, Mbwana sent chairperson for the royal family Tryson Phali to the DC\u2019s office to enquire about the development.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to the DC\u2019s office to get a copy of elevation letter from the President for our record but I was told that they did not have the letter at that moment because the communication had come through a WhatsApp message,\u201d<\/em> Phali said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Mbwana Monday said, as custodian of the land, he was supposed to make a recommendation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that it is prerogative of the President to elevate a chief but that is conditional. In this case, how will he [Siyalimba] perform his duties without my blessing? Chiefs perform a lot of duties and one cannot freely operate in an environment where his superiors are not happy with him. In 2016, I recommended GVH Mundango and GVH Chikondo but there was no response. The elevation has come to me as a surprise,\u201d<\/em> Mbwana said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
He said they suspect that Siyalimba\u2019s promotion was influenced by Democratic Progressive Party parliamentarian for the area (Nkhata Bay North] Ephraim Mganda Chiume who is the chief\u2019s cousin.<\/p>\n
Mbwana said they are now seeking legal action through lawyer William Chibwe.<\/p>\n
In a brief interview, Chibwe of John Tennyson and Associates said they want to obtain an injunction stopping Siyalimba\u2019s elevation.<\/p>\n
Chiume, who confirmed his relationship with Siyalimba, denied having a hand in the chief\u2019s elevation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese people maybe just don\u2019t know; Siyalimba was recommended [to be elevated] by the late T\/A Mbwana in 2002. And I have it on record that, in 2005, the T\/A wrote the DC reminding him about the issue.<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2006, another follow-up letter was written by Mbwana to secretary for Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development on the same issue. So, I don\u2019t understand when they say I influenced a decision to have Siyalimba elevated,\u201d<\/em> Chiume said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Simwaka said he was surprised with Mbwana\u2019s action since the President\u2019s decision cannot be challenged.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Chiefs Act empowers the President to make elevations and the chief knows this. That is why, when we received a communication from the ministry about the elevation, we proceeded to inform him [Siyalimba] about the news. However, I don\u2019t know that anybody is challenging the elevation and tell those people to come to my office,\u201d<\/em> Simwaka said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development spokesperson Muhlabase Mughogho and Mutharika\u2019s press secretary Mgeme Kalirani expressed ignorance on the matter.<\/p>\n
The Chiefs Act says: \u201cAt the request of a chief, the President may, by writing under his hand, appoint any person to the office of Sub-Chief and may in such appointment or subsequently specify the boundaries of the area of jurisdiction of such Sub-Chief and may from time to time alter such boundaries.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
University of Malawi\u2019s Chancellor College-based political and governance analysts Ernest Thindwa and Mustapha Hussein have since urged politicians to desist from politicising traditional institutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cPoliticians tend to fulfil their personal agenda by interfering in traditional institutions. Much as the President has a prerogative but, certainly, those powers cannot be exercised exclusively.<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cThere is need for consultation because chieftaincy is a cultural position and custodians of that culture need to be consulted. When the President starts to appoint anybody to chieftaincy, it disturbs authority of that particular area,\u201d<\/em> Thindwa said.<\/p>\n
Hussein said, before the President makes a decision to elevate a chief, \u201che is fed with information so the best way is to remove politics from traditional leadership.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Chieftainship wrangles have been common in the country.<\/p>\n
Among others, recently, angry communities in Traditional Authority (TA) Chekucheku sealed offices of Neno District Council demanding installation of Stranger Chekucheku as TA Chekucheku.<\/p>\n
In Nkhotakota, succession wrangles have rocked T\/A Kanyenda chieftainship as the family is yet to come up with a name of a person to take over from the chief who died in 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Isaac Salima: Senior Chief Mbwana under Themba Mbwana Chieftainship in Nkhata Bay has challenged President Peter Mutharika\u2019s elevation of Group Village Head (GVH) Siyalimba to Sub- Traditional Authority, accusing the country\u2019s First Citizen of flouting procedure. Mutharika last month promoted Siyalimba who has been GVH since 1951. Nkhata Bay District Commissioner (DC) Rodney Simwaka […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":69772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75116"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75119,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75116\/revisions\/75119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}