By Vincent Gunde
Political activist Bon Kalindo, has appealed to trucks moving along the M1 Road to pick up over 300 families of Kasasire in Northern Nkhatabay district who have set out their journey on foot to Lilongwe to meet President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika.
Kalindo said it is very pathetic to see elderly people, women carrying their babies on their backs and children walking on foot along the road to Lilongwe because government is not recognizing their customary land.
He said Activists, churches and a Roman Catholic Priest Bishop Martin Mtumbuka has spoken highly on the people of Kasasire in Nkhatabay that they are living pathetic lives after MDF soldiers evicted them from their customary land on the claims that the land is for training of soldiers.
Speaking through an audio clip, Kalindo has called on the Inspector General of Police to send vehicles to pick up these people claiming that not all will arrive in Lilongwe alive to meet President Professor Mutharika.
Kalindo said MCP is now out of government after treating these people as wild animals and the DPP should not follow the same reminding the DPP that these people are there voters for the 2030 elections.
He said to remove them from their land, MDF soldiers used force to beat them up, they shot dead some of their livestock and set ablaze their crops and those who were providing resistance that they will die for the land belonged to their forefathers, were arrested and sent to Mzuzu Prison.
The Activist said the matter of the Kasasire people went to the court which ruled in their favour that the land is a customary land wondering why these people till today are not being assisted?
” Evidence is there that the land belongs to the people not MDF, Chikangawa forest is a vast area, why not taking the other side and leave the land in question to the people of Kasasire?” Lamented Kalindo.
And in a statement released by the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development dated 23rd July, 2026 signed by the Secretary for Lands Amani Mussa, says the Government has intensified efforts to find a lasting solution for families currently living in temporary shelter at Kasasire in Nkhatabay district.
The statement said Government had decided to identify a suitable land in one of the neighbouring districts for resettlement of the families.
” Government intends to settle the families in one location, the Ministry is working with other Government agencies including the DoDMA and District Councils,” reads the statement in part.
Government said pending identification of permanent settlement land, it has provided temporary shelter to the families at Thungwe saying DoDMA will provide the required support to ensure that the families live a decent and humane life at the shelter.
