M’mbelwa not ready to pay MRA

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Inkosi ya Makosi M’mbelwa IV of Mzimba has indicated he is not prepared to pay duty for a consignment of school materials Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) seized from him about six years ago.

Between 2003 and 2004, MRA seized the school materials, which M’mbelwa bought from outside the country after winning a tender to supply school materials to the Ministry of Education, which the ministry later refused to buy.

MRA public relations and tax education manager, Steve Kapoloma, confirmed that they seized the chief’s property for non-payment of duy and that the materials have been in their warehouse since then.

Apart from paying duty for the notebooks, M’mbelwa will be required to pay the tax collecting body a substantial amount of money for the storage costs.

Kapoloma could not disclose how much M’mbelwa has accumulated in storage charges, so far, because MRA has not done the assessment.

He explained that assessments are normally done when the owner has indicated he or she is going redeem the consignment.

And in an interview with The Sunday Times early this week, the Ngoni chief said he will need to identify a customer first before settling the bill with MRA.

“I can’t pay duty for those items. I can’t sell them anywhere! What am I going to do with them?” M’mbelwa asked.

“I can only do so when I win a tender,” he indicated. The Paramount Chief refused to entertain further questions, arguing the media should find other things to write, but not about him.

In his reaction, Kapoloma said they MRA would not push the chief let alone anybody else into paying duty as that would imply MRA was becoming violent in its approach in tax collection process.

M’mbelwa became the centre of controversy following government refusal to buy the materials. Among them, Ngoni chief found himself in deep trouble with Finance Bank where he borrowed K2.2 million hoping he would repay after selling the notebooks.

 Sheriffs accompanied by heavily armed police officers invaded the chief’s headquarters at Edingeni where they pounced on his household property after the High Court had ruled that his property be seized for failure to pay the loan.

M’mbelwa was only saved by his subjects who contributed little by little to secure their chief’s redemption because they felt that the stories about the debts and grabbing of Inkosi ya Makosi's  property were not only a disgrace to the chief but the entire Ngoni tribe and Mzimba.

END