Chiefs fault council over honoraria

Traditional leaders in Dowa district are accusing the Dowa District Council of failing to give them honoraria as stipulated in the Chiefs Act.

The accusations are coming at a time when the chiefs have been visiting the council secretariat to get the money only to be told to wait.

The council promised the chiefs to pay their honoraria allowances and arrears in December, 2017, but up to date, the promise has not been fulfilled, a development which is fuelling anger among chiefs especially this time around when parties are gearing to start campaigning.

Speaking on a condition of anonymity with Malawi24, a senior group village head of an area of Senior Chief Msakambewa in the district said the chiefs have kept their fingers crossed for four months now and do not know when the council will pay them their honoraria allowances.

The group village head said the traditional leaders have from time and again been going to the area of Traditional Authority Msakambewa headquarters to map the way forward but they have been receiving no concrete answers.

He added that T/As of the district are also complaining over the issue.

“Chiefs have always been referred to the council for possible answers but no one at the council seems to have an answer,” he said.

The Group village head said although their allowances seems to be low – K2 ,500   for village heads and K5,000 for Group village heads – the money is still accumulating for one individual chief and in the end government would find it a challenge to pay each one of them at the same time.

He alleged that the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development pays them through the council in time but some individuals at the council have found a way of using the money for their intended benefits and after realising some interests, it’s when they think of paying the chiefs.

The group village head then warned government to treat the issue of honoraria allowances with urgency saying opposition parties will use it to campaign against the ruling party.