No allowances, no meetings – Lilongwe City Councillors declare

Twenty six Members of the Lilongwe city wards on Thursday, staged a sit in to any council business unless they had been paid their arrears.

When Nyasa Times visited the chamber at around 11:30, the councillors were just chatting with no business on the ground.

Councillors told Nyasa Times that the City  Council owes them over K2 million in arrears.

Ministry of Local Government spokesman Mshawase  Mughogho confirmed to Nyasa Times about the absconding.

Mughogho said while the councillors have right to demand  their allowances, they “have the constitutional duty to speak for the people.”

She  said during a full council a lot of business is being discussed “unlike in subcommittee businesses.”

Mughogho said the good news is that all their outstanding allowances have been paid.

But in an interview, Member of Parliament for Lilongwer City Centre, David Bisnowaty,  said it was unfortunate that members of Parliament and spending hours at the council doing nothing.

“You can see that we have been here since morning and this is 4 PM doing almost nothing this is unfortunate,” said Bisnowaty.

Ward Councilor for Chigoneka, Desmond Bikoko accused the directors for the mess.

“The problem is that these directors have overstayed in their positions, we discuss issues and agree they do the opposite,” said Bikoko.