Council chase Area 9 land grabbing DPP cadets

Lilongwe City Council (LCC) Tuesday afternoon chased land grabbing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) cadets, under heavy police escort.

A battle has ensued between LCC and Beautify Malawi Trust (Beam) over land in the Capital city which is opposite Civo Stadium and Crossroads Hotel.

The DPP cadets, who have been claiming to be the rightful owners of the place, illegally though, have been camping at the site in an efforts to thwart LCC from evicting then.

By Monday this week, the cadets had delivered sand and bricks at the  site ready to start constructing private shops and toilets.

On Tuesday, LCC managed to chase them away with heavy presence of the armed police.

However, though there was no much resistance from the cadets, one of them who spoke on condition of anonymity to Nyasa Times  said they will not give up the  fight to have ‘our’ land.

The  three DPP cadets are Gift Kalipinde, Tobias Chabuka and Kulimba Chiotcha, went to court to obtain the order restraining LCC from taking action until the matter is substantially heard in court.

Beam Trust is owned by First Lady Gertrude Mutharika.

“Upon hearing counsel for the claimants and upon reading the sworn statement in support, it is hereby ordered and directed that an injunction be and hereby granted restraining the defendant by itself, servant, agents or otherwise from interfering with the Claimants, Toilet, Offices and Shops that have been built opposite Civo Stadium, Crossroads Hotel and Banja La Mtsogolo (near Lilongwe Bus Depot) in the city of Lilongwe until the conclusion of this matter or until a further order of this court,” leads part of the court order granted  by Judge Charles Mkandawire on July 19 2019.

However, Nyasa Times investigations indicate there are disagreements between the ruling DPP top brass and the cadets who feel that the party leaders want to grab the land from them and give it to some Asians.

The three cadets have already grabbed land situated after Banja La Mtsogolo (near Lilongwe Bus Depot) in the city of Lilongwe where they have built shops.

LCC earmarked the land for a minibus depot.

“These cadets are just hiding behind the first lady but all they want is to grab land from the city council. They are even threatening officials at the ministry of lands, housing and urban development,” said a source who pleaded for anonymity.

LCC spokesperson Tamala Chafunya recently told the media that the city council has its own by-laws and has been sensitizing people in the city that it will demolish any structure that is illegal.

Beam and top DPP officials have been in the limelight on issues to do with dubious land allocations attracting accusations of  cronyism, nepotism and favoritism.

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