Mining
MMRA laments over political interference in fighting illegal mining
October 10, 2025 / Wahard Betha
Small scale miners
The Mining and Minerals Regulatory Authority (MMRA) has expressed concern over political interference in its duties saying it is one of the challenges disrupting its work of bringing sanity in the mining sector.
MMRA Monitoring and Evaluation Officer Dikani Chibwe told Mining and Trade Review that some influential politicians, he declined to mention, interrupt their mandatory work mainly when some illegal miners are arrested by the Authority.
Chibwe said: “For instance, we apprehended some illegal miners in Nkhotakota and just few hours while they were in police custody, we received calls from influential politicians demanding their immediate release.”
“The situation left the police with no choice but to release them. As a regulatory body we feel powerless in such situations which are making it difficult for us to regulate the sector.”
MMRA is mandated to regulate the mineral sector in the development and utilization of mineral resources in line with sustainable development principles and best practices for the benefit of Malawians.
Chibwe admitted that there is an increase in illegal mining practices in the country but blamed the situation on traditional leaders as the ones exacerbating the problem by illegally allocating land for mining.
Commenting on the development, Chairperson for Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD) Ben Chakhame blamed the public servants at MMRA for not disclosing the names of the said politicians to the public. Chakhame said the politicians were supposed to be named and shamed for others to learn a lesson.
He said: “The problem is them as public servants. They give room to this otherwise I, as a politician, if I go there and am reported, people can learn a lesson.
There are some politicians who are fueling this and they need to be mentioned.” “These are some of the things that have to come openly even in the media, people have to know. Name and shame them.”
Coordinator for Natural Resources Justice Network (NRJN) Kennedy Rashid said the political interference in the regulatory affairs simply tells how abusive and weak the system is. Rashid said politicians are only allowed in policy making as policy shareholders but not enforcement in the abusive way.
He said: “I think there is a misconception by political actors. They feel like once they are politicians they are also regulators. “Politicians are policy makers and their role is to look at policy and advice on how the policy can be formulated.”
“But implementation of the policy is left out to technicians at Capital Hill that is government machinery itself that is now supposed to enforce and regulate.”
“When politicians come in to regulate that is illegal, according to Mines and Minerals Act and they can be penalized..” Apart from political interference, MMRA is also facing the problem of understaffing making it fail to meet its targets.
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Rehabilitation:
The establishment of a stable and self-sustaining ecosystem, but not necessarily the one that existed before mining began. In many cases, complete restoration may be impossible, but successful remediation, reclamation, and rehabilitation can result in the timely establishment of a functional ecosystem.
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Remediation:
The cleanup of the contaminated area to safe levels by removing or isolating contaminants. At mine sites, remediation often consists of isolating contaminated material in pre-existing tailings storage facilities, capping tailings and waste rock stockpiles with clean topsoil, and collecting and treating any contaminated mine water if necessary.
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