Francis Belekanyama, Member of Parliament (MP) for Lilongwe Msinja South Constituency, is under fire following accusations of trespassing and destruction of property (maize in a garden) in the first week of January.
According to Macleod Duwe, the legislator took the actions after accusing Duwe of encroaching on the Belekanyama family land.
Duwe comes from Kambanizithe Village in Mitundu, in the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Masula.
“Together with my brother Derreck Chanza, we bought five acres of land from Davison Vayisoni in 2018. We have been farming on the land since then without problems. In October last year, Vayisoni approached us that he was selling seven acres of land adjacent to ours. After discussions, we paid a deposit of K1.26 million.
“However, we were shocked when the MP came with his boys and started uprooting maize on our farm which we bought in 2018. They found us applying fertiliser,” said Duwe, who reported the matter to the police.
In an interview, Vayisoni confirmed the MP’s vandalism of the maize on the wrong piece of land.
“About five years ago, I was approached by the late Lingson Belekanyama to sell him a piece of land. He said he wanted to relocate his relatives who were staying along the river to a higher land. I agreed to sell him seven acres, and at the time of his death, he had paid K1.3 million as part payment.
“No one else was aware about the deal except him, two witnesses and myself. After his death, I approached the family to explain the whole issue. The relations told me they would pay the balance using monies from condolences.
“They later came back to say they got nothing from the condolence money, so I should just find another buyer and refund them the K1.3 million deposit to enable them buy food,” he said.
Later, according to Vayisoni, Duwe and his brother agreed to purchase the land, and they paid a deposit in October.
But instead of refunding the monies to the Belenyamana family, Vayisoni used it for other purposes, but he promised to pay it back in January.
“After further discussions, I allocated the family four acres of land, which I deemed to be equivalent to the deposit the late MP had paid, and they started building a house on it.
“After some time, our MP [incumbent] insisted on getting all the seven acres for the same amount, which I refused, but we agreed I would refund them the deposit. Before I could pay back, he took the matter to Traditional Authority [T/A] Masula and later, we heard that he had uprooted maize belonging to Duwe,” he said.
When contacted on Tuesday morning, Belekanyama refused to comment, saying he was waiting for the chief’s ruling on the matter in the afternoon.
But after T/A Masula ruled in the afternoon that Vayisoni should pay back the money by January 27, and that he should find someone else to buy the land, Belekanyama refused to comment on the matter again.
Lilongwe Police Spokesperson, Hastings Chigalu confirmed to have received the complaint from Duwe.
“We indeed received the complaint against Hon. Belekanyama, but being a civil case, we advised them to involve the chief first,” he said.
The issue regarding maize has not been resolved yet.
