Faith leaders together with community members in Mangochi have petitioned President Peter Mutharika over mining activities in the district.
The petitioners are advocating for justice, accountability and action towards illegal mining taking place in Makanjira.
Faith leaders together with community members presented their petition to the president through Mangochi District Commissioner on Friday.
The petitioners were supported by Norwegian Church Aid Malawi under Resource Governance.
Malawi has various minerals that are sometimes illegally mined due to poor government policies.For instance, at Kayekela Uranium Mining site the country lost a lot of money and people were not aware of the mining activities, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.
The report revealed that Malawians are not benefiting from the mining industry and instead they are victims of various human rights violations that are brought in the process of extracting these minerals in their respective communities.
The report by the international rights organisation exposed human rights violations against communities in Karonga district affected by coal and uranium mining operations of Eland Coal Mining Company, Malcoal and Paladin Africa Limited (Paladin).
Among other findings, Human Rights Watch found that Malawi lacks adequate safeguards to ensure the necessary balance between development efforts and protecting the rights of local communities and that weak government policies and lack of information leave local communities unprotected.
