Eland coal mine ‘bribes’ Karonga chief with K3mil:ACB asked to intervene

Group Village Headman Mesiya of Traditional Authority (TA) Kilupula in Karonga received a K3 million bribe from Eland Coal Mine Company Limited reportedly for managing to mute his subjects who wanted the company to stop its operations due to failure to honour social corporate responsibility, Nyasa Times  can reveal.

A member of the Mesiya’s inner circle, Happy Mwetumba, told Nyasa Times in an interview that the syndicate occurred last month when members of the communities surrounding the mine blocked the coal miner’s vehicles from leaving the area by digging a huge trench.

Mwetumba and others confided in Nyasa Times that after the incident, the village was shocked to see the chief’s family opening a huge business which they could not come out clear on the sources of income.

“Besides that, some of the people who denied the malpractice disclosed this to the community,” Mwetumba said.

Reacting to the development, Paul Mvula from the Church and Society Organization through its one year project funded by the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) condemned the development saying “it is major thing that made only few people benefit from the mine investors leaving others suffering.”

Mvula further said that “as an organization we shall organize an interface meeting with all concerned parties this week and make sure the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) intervenes on the matter.”

Mesiya could neither confirm nor deny the allegations while Eland Company could not immediately comment.

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