20 Families Rendered Homeless As MUBAS Sherrifs Demolish Houses In Mzuzu

About 20 households at Luwinga-Habitat in Mzuzu City are in dire need of humanitarian assistance following the demolition of their houses on Saturday by the sheriffs engaged by Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS) formerly, the Polytechnic.

The affected households encroached and developed on land which MUBAS bought from Trust Academy in 2016.

However, village Headman, Chinyuwa Nkhata whose dynasty was established in 1978 said it is MUBAS who encroached into the customary land and demolished houses for the innocent people without following proper procedures.

“Both the office of president and Cabinet (OPC) and the Commissioner of Lands are aware of the matter, they properly advised MUBAS and villagers to stay put waiting for either compensations or the final determination from the department of Lands,” Nkhata said.

But a senior official working at the Regional Lands office who did not want his identity to be revealed confided in this reporter stating that the Supreme Court of Appeal gave the sheriffs hired by MUBAS authority to evict those who encroached.

“I am not authorized to speak to the media but all this mess is caused by the chiefs who are illegally selling every piece of land even that belongs to the government, expect the same thing to happen on the land belonging to Mzuzu Admarc at Gesha,” he said before hanging the line.

Both letters from the OPC and the Commissioner of Lands dated 2nd August 2022 signed by the Regional Commissioner of Lands, Timothy Mwale which Malawi Daily Telegraph has accessed indicate that the institution of higher learning was advised not to evict the villagers pending compensations and determination of the Commissioner of Lands.

“We would like to inform you that the office is still making consultations on the matter to ensure that appropriate compensation is effected to the affected people,” reads part of the letter.

However, in a telephone interview with Malawi Broadcasting Corporation lawyer for MUBAS, Francisco Chikavumbwa said; “the high court made a determination in 2018 regarding the land under dispute, so we obtained an enforcement order which gives us powers to evict all encroachers”.

According to a senior Alliance For Democracy member who was on the scene trying to comfort the victims, Pacharo Nyoni, the affected families are in urgent need of tents, food, water and chlorine.