CHIKWAWA-(MaraviPost)-Theft of public resources in Chikwawa the southern part of Malawi is the major thing that cripples public projects officials have said.
The development comes after the same kind of malpractice was registered in the area of Chief Maseya in Chikwawa District where construction works of Bereu Police Unit has stalled on claims of shortage of cement.
It is reported that Chikwawa District Council provided 300 bags of cement to implement the project under District Development Fund (DDF) but surprisingly, the building is of sub-standard and incomplete, putting the contractor on a tight corner to complete the project.
Chief Maseya and Bwabwali Ward Councillor, Collex Nankumba, said in an interview on Wednesday they were not happy with such day-light theft of construction materials which the two said derails development.
“How can all the 300 bags be finished with such a poorly constructed and incomplete building,” wondered Chief Maseya.
Chief Maseya and Nankumba said they would like law enforcers to probe the matter, saying they suspect the project committee connived with village headmen to steal the bags of cement.
In a telephone interview, project contractor Ignasius Garry refused to comment on the matter, referring this reporter to the project committee which proved futile as the mobile numbers provided could not be reached until the time of going to press.
On his part, Chikwawa District Council Chairperson, Dyson Manjolo, disclosed that a special committee visited the project site and found out that the project committee and the contractor had misused the materials including bags of cement.
“As a district council, we gave the committee at the site and the contractor an ultimatum of one month to complete the project or else we would report the matter to police,” said Manjolo.
However, the period as demanded by the ultimatum has expired and the visit to the project site on Sunday afternoon revealed that the police unit project has not been completed.
Chikwawa Police Station Officer-in-Charge, Assistant Commissioner, Davie Chingwalu said the police was just waiting for authorities to report the issue to them to take action on the alleged theft.
As the situation remained like this in the area of Chief Maseya, elsewhere the story is different in the area of Chief Makhuwira as on Sunday, scores of people, including Chief Makhuwira, Fr. Mosteni Tengani of the Catholic Church and Councilor Manneck Gannet handed over a modern head teacher’s house at Bodza Primary School.
Chief Makhuwira commended the intervention, saying it was going to contribute in improving education in the area. The head teacher’s house has been constructed under District Development Fund (DDF).