About 869 people, including school-going children, are camping at Office of the President and Cabinet premises in Mzuzu City, where they are protesting their evacuation from some areas in Nkhata Bay District.
These are people who were living in Kasasile area in the lakeshore district.
They were evicted by Malawi Defence Force (MDF) personnel for allegedly encroaching on the security agency’s land—Viphya firing range.
The villagers started converging at the OPC premises on Friday and have vowed to remain there until they are allocated another piece of land for resettlement.
Village Head Chaimamnjira said all they wanted was a piece of land they could call home.
Chaimamnjira, who claimed to have stayed in Kasasile area for 32 years, said structures in the village were demolished.
“This is despite that we have graveyards in the land in question, with people buried as far back as 1933. If they say that is their piece of land, they must give us another piece of land. That is why we are here,” he said.
In her remarks, Chancy Swila, who has four children, claimed that they continued to be “harassed” even after being chased from the land in question.
“When we left the land and sought refugee in a local church in Mzimba District, they went after two of us. Why? she queried.
have graveyards in the land in question
Earlier, Senior Group Village Head Mpandanyale had indicated that the area in question has public structures, including Bunji Junior Primary School, Kamanda and Kasasile full primary schools, “all built to serve the local community”.
Speaking recently, MDF spokesperson Major Emmanuel Mlelemba maintained that the MDF would reclaim the land, highlighting that it was properly acquired through the Ministry of Lands.
The land in question lies closer to the Viphya firing range in Nkhata Bay, with official documents indicating that it belongs to MDF.
Speaking recently, Ministry of Lands spokesperson Enock Chingoni said the ministry conducted a retracement exercise in 2018 and that it indicated that the villagers were inside MDF land.
Further, Chingoni said there is a court judgement which was passed by the Mzuzu Principal Resident Magistrate Court in 2021 in favour of MDF, such that an order to evict the community members from the land was duly granted.
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