‘Chiefs against subjects challenging their decisions’

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

  Chiefs, locals attending the training

Most traditional leaders in the country do not allow their subjects to challenge their decisions and that anyone appealing against their judgments do it “at owners’ risk’.

This was revealed on Monday in Mwanza at the opening of a three-day training workshop for community-based educators. Centre for Human Rights, Education and Advice (CHREAA) has sourced funding from Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN), which the former intends to use on training the locals in Mwanza on their right to development and access to justice.

In an interview with CommuNews, one of the educators, Emmie Mangawa, revealed that people in the rural areas have challenges to access justice because chiefs do not allow them to appeal cases heard and judged by them [chiefs].

“Chiefs’ decisions are always final unless you want to risk expulsion from their areas,” Mangawa explained.

She disclosed that because of fear [to be at loggerheads with their traditional leaders], many people have chosen to suffer in silence.

“Some people have tried before to appeal against their chiefs’ decisions, but the result is that they got expulsion. If you’re lucky, you’re just fined to pay a chicken or goat,” Mangawa revealed.

CHREAA Projects Coordinator for Mwanza McDonald Kaipa said his organization had lined up a number of programmes aimed at equipping locals with necessary skills for claiming their rights.

Among others, Kaipa said, is to ensure that rural communities are able to access justice without being subjected to intimidation.

“Lawyers are city-based and expensive; making it difficult for rural citizens to access their services. Besides, formal justice in Malawi is expensive and cumbersome hence the need to train community-based educators who will, in turn, train their fellows of their right to right to fair trial with or without monetary attachments,” he said.

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