MCP tells Malawi govt off on Lilongwe District Council

Main opposition, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) has told the government off on its threat to dissolve Lilongwe District Council over feud of two defecting ward councillors.

Thirty-two ward councillors of the council have been barring two councillors from attending council meetings after they defected from the MCP to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

The government, through the ministry of Local Government issued a statement warning it would invoke its powers to dissolve the council, meaning the government would effectively strip off the powers of the ward councillors.

However, director of elections of the MCP Maxwell Thyolera said the party will not take the threats, insisting the two defecting ward councilors would never attend council meetings unless they go back to the MCP which sponsored them into the council.

“The government or the ministry of Local Government has no powers whatsoever to do that. The ward councillors will continue doing that because this was a full council resolution,” said Thyolera.

The Lilongwe District Council comprised of 34 ward councillors, all of them MCP and the two, Yohane Kachingwe and Moses Chidzungu defected to the DPP a few months ago.