Government has bemoaned the continuous chieftainship wrangles in different parts of the country, saying they deter national development.

Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Kondwani Nankhumwa made the remarks on Thursday, during the double installation of Senior Chief Malemia and Traditional Authority Nkagula at Domasi in Zomba district.

“I want to conquer with Paramount Chief Kawinga that as government, we are failing to install three chiefs in Zomba because of family disagreements and this has greatly affected how we distribute development in those areas,” he said.

Nankhumwa said the area of Traditional Authority Malemia had a similar case where since 2004, it had no Traditional Authority (TA) until in 2015 when the state president appointed the new Traditional Authority Malemia who was later promoted to a Senior Chief on July 17, this year.

“Let me urge all royal families who are yet to settle their disagreements, to emulate the good example of people in T/A Malemia, as government we are ready to install any chief if you present a person who can become a chief in unison,” Nankhumwa explained.

He however advised the newly installed chiefs to work according to their peoples’ will and support government efforts in developing their communities saying, the law of the land gives the state president powers to remove any chief who is not performing as expected.

On his part, Paramount chief Kawinga of Machinga district thanked the government for promoting the two chiefs saying Zomba district was facing problems because of lack of chiefs which affected equal representation at local government level.

Zomba district now consists of five Traditional Authorities Kuntumanje, Mkumbira, Mlumbe, mwambo and the newly promoted Nkagula.

The district has three sub‐Traditional Authorities Mbiza, Ngwelero, and Ntholowa with Chikowi as the Paramount Chief.