PF Member of Parliament for Bwana Mkubwa Constituency Jonas Chanda has called on the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to quickly finalize and enforce the land policy.
Dr Chanda said that this would address current problems in Land Management.
He commended the PF Government for being the first Government to develop a National Land Policy since 1964.
Dr Chanda has said apart from ensuring transparency in Land allocation both State and Customary Land Systems it would reduce corruption in Land Management.
He said the upcoming land policy would also reduce the number of players involved in Land use control and management.
“Currently, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Agriculture, Traditional Leaders, and the Department of Resettlement under the Vice President’s Office are all involved in Land Management, making it difficult for citizens to acquire land,” he said.
The MP was speaking in Parliament when debating the Report presented by the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Lands and Natural Resources which focused on “Land Management in Zambia” and “Livestock Stocking and Production in Zambia.
He said land ownership is a sovereign right of Zambians, not foreigners.
Dr Chanda highlighted a number of land disputes in Bwana Mkubwa constituency, including displacement of over 300 families in Chichele by Golden Lay Company, disputes between a big land buyer and families in Dairy Farm Chichele, the sale of Old Regiment compound to an Oil Marketing Company which wanted to displace over 5,000 people, and the demolishing of buildings owned by Zambians by a foreign businessman in Jacaranda area even when the matter was before the Courts.
Other illegalities he mentioned include allocation of plots by “cadres” under high voltage ZESCO and CEC Powerlines, encroachment on government-owned land at Caritas High School in Ndeke where a Church building was constructed on school premises and at Mushili Clinic where individuals have built houses, and the continued abuse of the Presidential names by unscrupulous individuals claiming previous Presidents gave them huge pieces of land yet without documentation.
He has since called for strong punitive measures for perpetrators of illegal acts in Land management, and wondered why with so many people implicated in illegal land dealings very few had been arrested by Police, and none had been convicted in the Courts of Law.
