Nsanje chiefs threaten to drag NPL to court for defamation

Traditional leaders in Nsanje are planning to drag to court Nation Publications Limited (NPL) for defamation over a story published in The Weekend Nation on January 14, 2017.

According to a report which the Weekend Nation published, traditional leaders in Nsanje are accused of soliciting sex from female flood victims in exchange for relief food donated by government.

This followed a survey done by Link for Citizen Empowerment (The Link), a women’s rights body working in Nsanje and several other districts in the country, which revealed that the girls and women in Nsanje are forced to sleep with some exploitative traditional leaders in exchange for humanitarian food.

Reacting to the reports, Senior Chief Malemia of the district described the report as silly and aimed at tarnishing the good image of chiefs in the district.

Malemia said currently, the chiefs are planning for legal action in order to drag the publication to court.

“There is no chief in Nsanje who engages in such malpractices, that is untrue and can never happen. Now as chiefs in Nsanje, we cannot tolerate this,” charged the traditional leader.

According to Senior Chief Malemia, people should treat traditional leaders with honour and respect instead of sarcasm.

But Link for Citizen Empowerment director Jephter Mwanza, whose organization carried out the survey defended the results saying the organisation talked to women in the district.

Meanwhile, the Nation Publication Limited is yet to react on the matter.