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Mchinji Councilors Stage Protest Over Motorcycle Loans

Mchinji DC: Councilors Want Loans Mchinji DC: Councilors Want Loans

On Friday, Ward Councilors in Mchinji stormed the Mchinji District Council offices to force officials provide approved motorcycle loans of K1.5m for each.

The 12 councilors have since given the council secretariat until Thursday next week to meet the demands lest, the councilors warn, there will be an unspecified action.

Zodiak Online, however, understands that last month, some of the councilors accessed part of the loan funds in the ranges of between K200,000 to K500,000.00.

Mchinji District Council Chairperson, Yona Mtanga, told Zodiak “it is disheartening to note that Mchinji is the only district where councilors have not received their loans, eight months after the May 21 Tripartite Elections”.

Mtanga alleges that councilors are failing to effectively discharge their duties because of lack of mobility.

“The council secretariat is failing to give us tangible reasons as to why it is taking so long to release the loans,” said Dorothy Mussa councilor for Nanjiwa Ward.

Speaking in an interview with Zodiak, Mchinji District Commissioner, Bester Mandele, said the delay is because, previously, the council was not repaying the councilors’ loan recoveries to the National Local Government Finance Committee.

The DC said, “I do not even know why the council was failing to repay the said loan recoveries, as this happened some months ago before I took over the office, and that records show that the money was being deducted from the councilors”.

But Mandele assures that his office is working around the clock to address the issue.

Meanwhile, reports indicate that out of the total K12 million which was supposed to be repaid to the National Local Government Finance Committee, the council only managed to repay K4 million, whilst the remaining K8 million is yet to be recovered.

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Last modified on Saturday, 11/01/2020

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