By IOMMIE CHIWALO
Concerned Citizens have penned Lilongwe District Commissioner notifying him of their intention to hold peaceful demonstrations on February 28 in demanding justice for their land believed to have been dubiously taken away from their ancestors.
In a letter that we have seen and signed by Concerned Citizens representatives Wells Khama and Reviyasi Revisoni, the grouping will gather at the Capitol Hill in Lilongwe and will only leave on condition that their land is given back.
The Concerned Citizens stressed that the land issue is worth dying for therefore any ploy by authorities to threaten them shall never be tolerated until they get their portion of land.
They have given a background of events concerning thousands of land struggles that are now becoming order of the day that saw the shooting of Maxwell Kenani on November 27, 2023.
And persuaded by daily reports of land wrangles culminating from the injustices towards the poor, the Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) challenges authorities to swiftly move in to diffuse a ticking bomb.
Citizens are seeking justice after findings show that there is a court ruling in relation to Alimaunde plot no 44/9 and 44/11, where Judge Kenyatta Nyirenda, in his September 24, 2020 ruling, said it belonged to Natures Gift Limited.
However, there are conflicting details that have emerged showing that the Alimaunde plot no 44/8, was not part of the said court ruling, as claimed by the citizens from Senior Chief Tsabango’s area.
Meanwhile the citizens are further claiming that the land was dubiously obtained by the current ‘owners’ from their ancestors, without any compensation.
Until recently, land crisis was believed to be an issue endemic to the tea growing districts of Mulanje, Thyolo and Nkhata-bay, but today, Malawians are their own witnesses that land is a national crisis in Malawi.
This is clearly evident by the recent vigil that was held at the High Court in Lilongwe, where some citizens of this country including the Kaphwiti Banda family battling it out with Mama Tamanda Cecilia Kadzamila were praying for justice to be served.
It is lamentable that millions of landless citizens are living like half human beings in Thyolo, Mulanje and Nkhata-Bay, while plenty of land lays idle, and worse still, others are serving jail terms, some are struggling to pay fines and many others have had their cases stalled for ages.
“As this is happening, the lucky few, mostly foreign nationals and Malawians of other descent, are letting out land to the natives and others are keeping it for their unborn grandchildren,”
