BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-The country’s graft agency Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday, April 14, 2025 arrested former Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) director of administration and corporate affairs Bob Chimkango for allegedly receiving allowances for work that was not related to his role at MHC.
In press statement issued, ACB principal public relations officer Egrita Ndala says the bureau’s investigation established that Chimkango in 2019 obtained from MHC fuel and subsistence allowances amounting to MK7,430,820.00 for attending a High Court constitutional case in Lilongwe.
“The case was unrelated to Malawi Housing Corporation’s interests,” says Ndala.
Chimkango is expected to be charged with abuse of public office, contrary to Section 25B (1) as read with Section 34 of the Corrupt Practices Act.
The suspect is one of key lawyers for opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc in partnership with Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) have concluded a three-month ‘Kwathu Pa Mo’ promotion with a lucky winner getting the grand prize of six months’ rent paid by the bank.
MHC tenant Blessings Mbamba will not pay rent for the next six months for winning the grand prize while another lucky winner Tamara Msiska won a MK500,000 cash prize for paying ground rentals using NBM plc’s mobile banking platform Mo626ice.
NBM plc e-Banking Services Manager Enala Chirwa speaks during the final draw
The promotion which started on 1 December 2021 and run through to 28 February 2022 was aimed at encouraging tenants and other people to pay their rentals and other fees through the mobile banking platform.
Speaking during the final draw in Blantyre, NBM plc e-Banking services Manager Enala Chirwa hailed the promotion saying it was a success as there has been an upsurge of customers using the mobile platform to pay their rentals and other services in general.
“There has been significant growth overall on the use of Mo626 for all services and we are expecting that this usage will further increase even after the end of this promotion because as the Bank of the Nation, we provide exciting financial solutions to our customers and we will continue to do so,” said Chirwa.
“I would like to thank MHC for partnering with us in this promotion. As a Bank, we are here to strengthen partnerships that we have with various stakeholders while having the best interests of our customers in mind,” added Chirwa.
MHC Business Research Development Manager Chancy Chaguluka also thanked NBM plc for the partnership saying the promotion has improved their revenue collection.
NBM employee Winnie Mngoli draws the winner
“Not only has this promotion improved our revenue collection, but it has made life easier for our tenants who did not have to go all the way to the bank to pay their rentals and fees as they did this in the comfort of their homes and offices in this Covid-19 pandemic era,” said Chaguluka.
During the three-month period, lucky customers won one month rent and shopping vouchers worth K50,000 and other consolation prizes which included branded golf shirts and drinking bottles.
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-Deputy Minister of Lands Abida Mia has assured tenants that are facing eviction from the newly built houses of Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) in Ngumbe that government will amicably resolve the matter at hand.
During her visit on Saturday, morning, August 21, 2021 Mia said, President Lazarus Chakwera’s Tonse government is currently addressing the matter and very much committed to have it resolved for the betterment of the tenants and all parties involved.
Mia therefore assured MHC Tenants of not being chased out at Ngumbe.
“Don’t be shaken, be assured that your government, the Chakwera administration, is taking positive steps to resolve the issue.” assures Abida Mia.
The 65 houses that have recently been built my MHC, the parastal organisation, are said to have been built on private land belonging to the family of Costas and Samantha Scordis, who through their lawyer, Kuleza Phokoso obtained an order to evacuate the occupants.
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-Deputy Minister of Lands Abida Mia this week directed all stakeholders involved in the grabbing of public land at Staff Development Institute (SDI) in Blantyre to meet and resolve the contentious matter within 14 days.
The Deputy Minister called for a stakeholders meeting after touring the encroached land last week where she expressed dissatisfaction over the scale at which SDI was unlawfully losing the land which was set aside for future expansion projects of the institute.
The institution was initially established by government in 1962 to train civil servants as well as act as its consulting and research arm.
Mia told journalist after the two hour-meeting with Blantyre authorities that her ministry was looking forwarding to resolving the encroachment issue taking place at SDI.
“We have fruitfully discussed all the sticky issues surrounding this matter. At the moment all documentation that I had requested indicates the land belongs to SDI. So there has to be mutual agreement on what happens next with those who encroached on the public land that is why I have given them 14 days to sit down and agree on the way forward before reporting to me.
“I will thereafter consult with my boss Honourable Kezzie Msukwa for guidance on the process to follow within the confines of our laws and in consideration of all aggrieved parties in this saga. I have no doubt that at the end of the day we will resolve this matter together,” says Mia
Ironically, three government departments were in the forefront encroaching into SDI land. These include Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC), Blantyre District Council and the Department of Animal Health which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture. The other portion of land was allegedly grabbed by an individual.
Addressing the stakeholders earlier, the deputy minister said government was currently overwhelmed with increased cases of encroachment and land grabbing of which majority remain unresolved after so many years.
“I would like you to know that this is the commitment of Tonse Alliance administration under the leadership of His Excellency the President Dr Lazarus Chakwera that all land wrangles new and outstanding should be quickly resolved,” she said.
She said during her previous visit to the institute to appreciate the extent of the encroachment, she was surprised to note that most land agreements made between SDI and government departments involved in the wrangle were made verbally without any documentation.
“This was unprecedented and should not be repeated in the future,” lamented the deputy minister.
Last week the local media reported that SDI- formerly Mpemba Staff Training College- was about to lose about five hectares of another land to Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC).
The housing company had already demarcated part of the land which is part of SDI estate into smaller plots with an intention to start allocating to interested individuals for purposes of constructing residential houses.
MHC claimed it owned the land and wanted to sell it to private developers as a way of sourcing revenue for the financially-drained corporation but could not produce ownership documentation when the deputy minister requested for it.
But speaking during the stakeholders meeting, MHC acting chief executive director Jordan Chipatala confirmed that they were approached by SDI in 1977 to build houses for the staff members of the college and MHC built seven houses.
Chipatala added that hey were forced to demarcate the land to sell after noting that there was encroachment taking place.
Acting director of SDI Peter Muthete said he was delighted that issue of SDI land being ruthlessly grabbed was now coming to an end and was looking forward to the deputy minister to make a formal declaration about the ownership.
“We presented every document to the deputy minister to support our claims. For us it was a fruitful meeting because it gave room to every stakeholder to present their cases. Now our expectation is that this long standing issue will come to an end,” he said.
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-The case in which Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) tenants have been protesting a 43 percent rental hike is going back to court on April 18 as the tenants have applied for the restoration of the case through lawyer Bernard Sitolo.
On August 30 last year, the High Court sitting in Zomba had granted the tenants leave to apply for judicial review and the court, as consequential interlocutory relief, also granted them an order of stay of the decision by MHC to increase rentals with effect from September 1.
The case was supposed to go for mediation on October 27, 2017 by Chancellor College’s Dean of law Garton Kamchedzera before the hearing of the judicial review on October 30.
However, On October 30, the court through judge Redson Kapindu vacated the injunction obtained by the tenants and consequently dismissed the application for judicial review as lawyer representing the tenants Maxwell Tembo failed to show up on both occasions.
By dismissing the injunction and an application for judicial review, the court automatically gave the corporation power to proceed with the rental increment.
The court has since set April 18, 2018 as the date for inter-parte hearing and to analyze merits and demerits on why the case should continue.
Goodnews Mphande spokesperson for the tenants confirmed to the Nation Newspaper saying they felt the intention of the case was not met.
“We are going back to court because the original intention was not met, our previous lawyer disappointed us. We still maintain that the rental hike is unreasonable and tenants are suffering. As I am talking now some have had their houses looked up because they are failing to pay.
‘As you are aware most of the tenants in such houses are those on low income, widows and orphans. However, much as the corporation is now operating as a commercial entity, it is not fair that it should aim at making 100 percent profits,” said Mphande.
ZOMBA-(MaraviPost)-The High Court in Zomba on Tuesday rebuffed the Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC)’s application to vacate an injunction in which tenants obtained to restrain the corporation from effecting a 48 percent house rental adjustment.
MHC planned to implement the adjustment in full effective on Friday September 1 2017 contrary to initial suggestions to roll it out in phases.
The development comes after last week Wednesday; the tenants through their lawyer Maxwell Tembo obtained an injunction restraining the MHC from effecting the adjustment.
The tenants are protesting the hike on the ground that it is unreasonable and do not reflect the rising cost of living in the country.
MHC Tenants Association spokesperson Goodnews Mphande said MHC lawyers tried to vacate the injunction but Judge Redson Kapindu rebuffed their application.
MHC spokesperson Ernestina Lunguzi was not available for comment on the matter as she was locked up in a meeting.
In June this year, the corporation’s tenants threatened to hold a nationwide strike and drag the corporation to court after it had communicated that it was going to hike house rentals by an average 48 percent supposedly to be put into effect on July 1.
It was after the threat that the overall increase percentage was reduced to 43 percent, which the tenants still protested, forcing MHC to rescind its decision until further notice.
A month later, the corporation announced that it would implement new house rentals for its units nationwide.
It justified its decision to adjust the rentals upwards to raise funds for maintenance works, construction of more houses and to meet escalating costs.
MHC chief executive officer Eunice Napolo is on record to have told journalists that the corporation has in recent years been surviving on sales of plots and not on house rental revenue; hence, does not have enough funds to maintain its houses.
Boasting of about 6 000 housing units across the country, MHC is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament of 1964 and is wholly owned by the Malawi Government.
Under the MHC Act of 1964 the corporation is empowered to construct houses, develop plots and maintain existing houses and plots.
Irate Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) tenants on Sunday disclosed of their plan to seek a court injunction against MHC abnormal rentals hike.
The MHC last week announced the percent hike structure for rentals of its houses, starting from 48 to 120 percent, depending on the type and location of the house.
For example, a one bedroom house in some areas has been raised from K55,000 to K84,700 representing a 54 percent hike.
MHC chief executive officer Eunice Napolo, said the decision is to help MHC rehabilitate its old houses at the same time build some modern ones.
She said MHC failed to hike its rentals in the past, because it was relying on funds it gets after selling plots and collect revenues.
However, the tenants who met on Sunday at Chitawira primary school ground, under the banner of MHC Tenants Association, said they will seek a court injunction and also seek a judicial review.
The MHC Tenants Association chairperson Mervin Kawumphawi, argued that the hike percentages were all abnormal and that they are not inline with the current cost of living, and minimum wages.
“Imagine, from 2015 to 16 the house rentals were hiked by ten percent. In 2015, a one bedroom house was raised from K47, 000 to K50, 000 while in 2016, the same house was raised from K50,000 to K55,000. And we did not complained as it was fair to us; but not what we are hearing today,” said Kawumphawi.
The group spokesperson Goodnews Mphande,concurred with Kawumphawi, and added that the group will also go to the streets to demonstrate against the MHC decision.
Government established MHC in 1964 with the vision of providing affordable housing to the middle and lower class sectors.
