Kasasile families fume over Chihana’s ‘divide the land’ remarks

Displaced families from Kasasile in Nkhata Bay District say they are being shuffled around like pawns, after Second Vice-President Enock Kamzingeni Chihana told residents at Maji Estate in Mzimba West to share out their land and make room for the newcomers.

The comments were made at a meeting in Mzimba on Saturday.

Speaking at a press briefing in Mzuzu on Monday, Lucky Botha, chairperson of the displaced residents, said the families had been left baffled by the government’s changing position.

“Things are happening so fast to our disadvantage,” Botha said.

He explained that residents were first told three areas in Nkhata Bay, Rumphi and Mzimba would be identified, and that they could choose one.

“Unfortunately, we were finally told that land has been secured at Maji Estate in Mzimba only to find that the land is already occupied,” he said.

The residents were particularly angered by the Vice-President’s remarks.

“The Second Vice President publicly told people residing at Maji Estate that the land is theirs, they should divide it among themselves and share the rest to us. We are failing to make sense out of that,” Botha said.

Joshua Ngugi Msiska said the families had been camped for too long while government spent heavily on them, when they could be farming.

He said they would not leave Kasasile until they were compensated for property damaged by the Malawi Defence Force, and asked to be allowed to farm their land this season.

Village Head Kanjauke raised concerns about being given a hectare or less per family at Maji Estate.

He asked how chiefs from Nkhata Bay would cope under a Traditional Authority who is Ngoni in Mzimba, and said the families were being wrongly labelled encroachers.

“We are not encroachers at Kasalile. It’s a customary land,” he said.

The residents said they still believed President Peter Mutharika would help them, but argued that some decision-makers were getting it wrong.

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