Minister of Civic Education and National Unity, Timothy Mtambo, has called on Blantyre City Council (BCC) to apologise to the Muslim and Christian communities for the way it handled the billboard wrangle between the Islamic Information Bureau (IIB) and the Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM).

In demanding the apology through a letter dated August 8 2020, Mtambo says his ministry is of the view that the council was supposed to engage both parties and “arrive at a common agreement amicably”.

The minister indicates that BCC failed to inform its client of its decision to remove the billboard and that the billboard was allegedly removed at night coupled with failure to communicate either to the public or its client.

The standoff between the Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM) and EAM started when IIB recently erected a billboard at Maselema in Blantyre.