Malawi army camp at Melu in Chitipa to be upgraded into a garrison – Minister

Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Vuwa Kaunda, says government’s plans to build houses for Malawi Defence Force (MDF) personnel at Melu Military camp in Chitipa will essentially transform the camp into a garrison.

Speaking during a meeting with Chitipa District Council officials on Wednesday, the minister said Chitipa being a border district with Tanzania and Zambia, needs to have good institutional houses to uplift the face of the district.

“I am also aware that MDF is upgrading its operations in the Northern Region and intends to upgrade its Melu Camp into a garrison, hence the need to construct houses to provide better accommodation to the officers,” said Kaunda.

During the visit, the minister also accessed construction sites of the houses at Chitipa Prison and Chitipa Police Station where he observed that the prison does not have adequate land available for the new houses.

“The problem we have here is that the available land cannot accommodate the houses to be built and my plea is to traditional leaders to assist in providing additional land to the Prison Service,” he said.

Speaking in an interview, Regional Prisons Officer for the north, Thomas Damba said Chitipa Prison currently has 44 staff members who live in rented houses far away from their duty station, a situation he described as worrisome.

“We don’t have a single house at this institution, this is pathetic because officers need to be living close to the prison complex for the security and safety of in-mates,” said Damba.

After visiting construction sites of the houses, Kaunda conducted a rally at Kasisi in Chitipa North Constituency where he urged people of different political affiliations to refrain from acts of violence for the country’s continued development.

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