Members of Parliament (MP), Councillors and traditional leaders fighting over cement and iron sheet subsidies which has not yet been started by government and the redeployment of City Council Chief Executive Officers (CEO’s) to district offices are some of the stories making headlines in Malawi on Tuesday.The Daily Times has come up with an article on the central government saying the registration for iron sheets and cement subsidy has not yet started but already traditional leaders, councillors and MPs are fighting over it in the resort district of Mangochi.

The MPs are accusing councillors of favouritism in the identification of beneficiaries and seeking to take advantage of the program to wrest power from the incumbents in the 2019 elections.

Senior Chief Chimwala and some MP’s have since complained to the District Commissioner that they are not happy with the way councillors are identifying beneficiaries claiming the councillors are only registering their political allies at the expense of deserving people.

He said some of the beneficiaries in the subsidy are those people who already have decent houses.

Chiefs are wondering whether it is government’s plan to enrich them.

If it is how councillors will be working then we will have problems to work with them he added.

The Nation newspaper carried a story on Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development moving CEO’s from the three major cities to district offices less than a week after demotions at district commissioners and directors ostensibly because their new posts did not exist in the civil service.

Secretary for Local Government and Rural Development Kester Kaphaizi said the move by government to redeploy all CEOs in the major city councils to districts was not political but a normal government transfer process.