Karonga DC, other officials accused of ‘revenue-gate’

Karonga District Commissioner Rosemary Moyo and other members of the Karonga District Council have been named as some of the culprits behind the mismanagement of revenue collected from market users.

The market vendors in the district have been boycotting payment of revenue since last Tuesday on the pretext that they benefit nothing from market services which they describe as deplorable.

Karonga district chairperson Patrick Kishombe revealed following a series of one to one questions from the vendors during Paramount Chief Kyungu’s tour to the market.

“I’m tired of carrying the cross of other people because I’m not involved in the malpractices,” said Kishombe. “It is some officials in conjunction with the DC that are doing it.”

He added: “For example, on the issue on who should benefit on the trading land at the market I was just informed by the DC that they had only decided on how to distribute the land.

“I did an investigation and found out that those that had been given the land were not the deserving. The DC and her team had given the land to friends and relatives, and when I queried about the matter, I was asked to build a grocery shop too.”

In his remarks, Paramount Kyungu expressed discontentment on developments at the council, calling for powers-that-be to iron out the problems.

“Things have to be ironed out before they worsen,” said Kyungu. “I give the council three days to make sure that the trading premises are clean and on top of that the council should make that the revelation which have been made here should be followed up so that culprits must be taken to book.”

The traditional leader ordered the vendors to start paying revenue and urged them to “resume boycotting paying revenue should the council fail to adhere to their demands.”

Karonga is one of the fastest growing towns in Malawi, and arguably the fastest growing in the northern region.

Largely, the speedy growth has been as a result of the mining activities at Paladin African Limited’s (PAL) Kayerekela Uranium Mine.