Chipungu: Govt secures land for displaced Kasasile families after protest march

Malawi’s Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Chimwemwe Chipungu, has told Parliament that government has identified land for the permanent resettlement of people displaced from the Kasasile area in Nkhata Bay, following their eviction from land belonging to the Malawi Defence Force (MDF).

The minister said the announcement followed rising tensions over the dispute, after some of those affected in Nkhata Bay and Rumphi began walking towards Lilongwe to demonstrate.

That development, he told MPs, prompted the Ministries of Lands, Defence and Justice to intervene in search of an immediate solution.

Chipungu said government had secured temporary accommodation at a school in the Northern Region beyond Thungwe, where the displaced families are currently being sheltered.

The Department of Disaster Management Affairs has been tasked with providing food, shelter and other humanitarian assistance in the meantime.

The Kasasile land, the minister explained, is a protected military training area owned by the MDF.

Courts had previously ruled that civilians could not legally settle there, a decision that ultimately forced government to relocate families who had been farming and living on the land.

Chipungu told Parliament that government was now working towards a permanent settlement for the affected families, with the aim of bringing an end to recurring disputes over the land.

He said a fuller ministerial statement on the matter would be presented to the House in due course.