Mutharika against ‘Lomwe Belt’ tag: Malawi leader hits at critics on nepotism

President Peter Mutharika on Sunday asked Malawians to stop calling the districts or areas dominated by the Lomwe tribe as ‘Lomwe Belt’, saying such tags are discriminatory and lashed out at critics who accuse him of displaying nepotistic tendencies for favouring his tribesmen.

Mutharika made the remarks during Mulhako wa Alhomwe 2017 annual celebrations which was held at Chonde in Mulanje.

He wondered why the country  only have the ‘Lomwe Belt’ despite having different tribes.

“I don’t know who started this, but I am asking you to stop it. We have different tribes in the country like Tumbuka, Mang’anja, Chewa, Yao and Sena. But their areas are not known like that of the Lomwe tribe like ‘Tumbuka Belt’ or Yao Belt…,” said the visibly angry Mutharika.

He also lashed at critics who accuse him and his government of practicing nepotism, saying his appointments in public service arew  based on merit.

Mutharika has been widely accused that his government  places  members of his tribal grouping  Mulhako wa Alhomwe in most influential positions in the public service.

But Mutharika rebutted this accusations.

“I have made four appointments recently, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Roads Authority is from Nkhotakota. I have appointed the CEO of Tobacco Control Commission who is from Dedza,” Mutharika said.

He went on: “The Vice Chancellor of Luanar (Lilongwe University if Natural Resources) is from Kasunguy and the Vice Chancellpor of Mzuzu University is from Britan but married  in northern Mzimba.”

Mutharika said out of 258 people he has appointed, 40 are from the Southern Region.

“I have seen members of the faith community talk about [nepotism remarks], that is complete nonsense.” He said.

However, critics argue that key positions of the country are kept tin the  Mulhakho wa Alhomwe family who includes the Malawi Defence Force commander ;  Secretary to the Treasury; Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi, Head of National Intelligence Bureau; Foreign Affairs Minister  and his controlling officers; Chief of Staff at State House;  State House Director of Communications;  two senior police officer in line to  take over from current Inspector General when he retires;  Commissioner General of Malawi Revenue Authority and his board chairman, Chief Secretary of the President & Cabinet, Director general of Macra, top officials of ESCOM & EGENCO and their board chairpersons, ADMARC CEO.