Lazarus Chakwera weighs in on border wrangles

President Lazarus Chakwera has assured people that he will address border wrangles, singling out Mangochi as one of the districts on his priority list.

Some households in the lakeshore district were negatively affected by the 2008 border re-demarcation exercise that saw some Malawian families finding themselves on the Mozambican side of the border.

Speaking Sunday, when Archbishop Thomas Luke Msusa celebrated his silver jubilee in priesthood, Chakwera said his government was aware that some families in the area of traditional authorities Katuli and Makanjira lost their land during the boundary tracing exercise which took place some 13 years ago.

In 2008, the African Union decided that African nations needed to reaffirm their borders to avoid possible conflicts that might arise from a lack of clarity.

In some parts of Mangochi, there have been altercations between Malawi and Mozambique nationals due to simmering border disputes between them.

Mozambique and Malawi have been working on reaffirming their borders in the World Bank-funded exercise.

The exercise is aimed at avoiding potential conflicts arising from the exploitation of resources or other disagreements that may affect good relations between the two countries.

The land borders and sharing of Lake Malawi, also involving Tanzania, as well as the navigability of inland waters, have been on the agenda of discussions between the two countries.

“We know that some of you lost farming land. We cannot leave you like that. We will make sure that you are protected because you are our people,” he said.

The President also pledged to improve the road network in the Southern Region to ease mobility challenges that farmers face in Mangochi and other districts.

“We are not making promises here but we will come shortly to start upgrading roads,” Chakwera said.

Msusa, who is Archbishop of Blantyre Arch-diocese of the Catholic Church, was ordained as priest on August 3 1996.

The President thanked Msusa for inviting him to be part of the silver jubilee event.

“My coming here has also helped me appreciate the importance of remembering where you are coming from,” he said.

Msusa said his priesthood was an indication that God does not discriminate when He wants to chose people to work for Him.

“My message to Malawians is that we must remain united. If we are united, we, as a nation, will achieve a lot of things,” he said.