By Jordan Simeon-Phiri
The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Secretary General Eisenhower Mkaka has revealed plans to develop idle land in its district and regional offices into shops and offices that will be rented out to the public to mobilize resources for the party.
The development comes against the background of immense land encroachment around the Karonga MCP district office.
In an interview on Wednesday, Mkaka said the party prides itself with party infrastructure with vast land across the country that if well utilized can ease the party’s financial challenges.
“Soon we will develop a business model to develop not only Karonga office but all offices across Malawi into shops to let out to people so that as a party we should generate money for party activities to avoid past mistakes whereby parties relied much on government resources to run their affairs,”Mkaka said.
The development comes just days after the regional chairperson who is also Minister of Land; Housing and Urban Development Kezzie Msukwa issued a strong warning to encroachers of land at its Karonga district MCP office.
A visit at the district office on Tuesday found a number of shops that have been constructed around the dilapidated office.
In an interview, Karonga MCP district chairperson Emmanuel Nkhoma lamented how disorderly Karonga District Council officials sold land.
“The whole piece of land here belongs to MCP. The first President of the party the late Hastings Kamuzu Banda leased it in 1964 for 99 years.
However, Council officials sold part of this land to three people, dividing the land into four plots whose beacons were erected at night to demarcate plots,” Nkhoma said.
Karonga District Commissioner, Paul Kalilombe said land encroachment in the district is a crosscutting issue that needs consented efforts to deal with it once and for all and has since asked law enforcers and the party to apply legal means to have it back.
Mzuzu based political commentator George Phiri has since hailed the decision, saying it is high time political parties differentiated between party and government affairs.
He said: The idea is good because parties have to be innovative by sourcing their own resources to fund party activities.
That will also create business and job opportunities to qualified Malawians to sustain their livelihoods,”
