Revisit land tenure
Revisit land tenureBy Concerned Citizen
Monday March 12, 2007 [02:00]
I echo the Post editorial comment of March, Friday 2, 2007, on the call to revisit the land Act of 1995, following the revelation of the alleged corrupt practices in the lands ministry, surprisingly by The Post and not the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). President Levy Mwanawasa dismissed lands minister, Gladys Nyirongo, and appointed Deputy Minister of Justice, Bradford Machila as a replacement, and suspended Commissioner of Lands, Frightone Sichone, who has been acting permanent secretary (PS) ever since Mukuka Zimba was suspended on the alleged illegal land allocation irregularities.
Then begs the question,: Where were the ACC, Drug-Enforcement Commission (DEC), the Police and Office of the President officers? There are more questions than answers.
However, the root of the problem of the Ministry of Lands lies not in individual officers, but in the land tenure and alienation system. The land Act of 1995 gives too much power to the Commissioner of Lands; the system is bureaucratic; and there are too many administrative bottlenecks. There is need to have an overhaul of the land tenure and alienation system in order to remove the bottlenecks.
There are stories that some officers in the ministry have turned land into an alleged lucrative business, ‘Buy and re-sell land’: they acquire pieces of land at no cost at all and re-sale it at exorbitant prices between K7 million to K45 million or more, depending on the area where the piece of land is located.
Yet the poor Zambians cannot afford to acquire even a small piece of land. Why? The requirements for one to apply for residential piece of land are prohibitive: Bank account statement is not kind to workers earning a K500, 000 tax-free incomes. Do you expect any of them to have a fat bank account?
Suppose, the worker recently started work, with a minimum balance in the bank account, and wants a residential piece of land, what documents can he or she submit? What about 80 per cent of the people in the informal sector?
I think access to land must be a right of every Zambian. Every Zambian, who has never acquired any piece of land should use an NRC and affidavit to apply for a residential piece of land, and then given a three- year period in which to develop the land. This will help many poor Zambians acquire land and build decent houses.
In the case of commercial plots, the requirements should remain the same with minimum changes. There is need to reform the land tenure and alienation system through a consultative process.
I urge the president to consider land reform as an urgent matter, and an area of priority to human and economic development in an attempt to address the alleged corruption in the ministry.
Labels: CORRUPTION, GOVERNANCE, LAND, LETTERS
posted by MrK @ 5:19 PM
2 Comments:
"Then begs the question,: Where were the ACC, Drug-Enforcement Commission (DEC), the Police and Office of the President officers? There are more questions than answers."
Again thers a problem with job descriptions no one knows what they are meant to be doing, from what Mr Xavier Chungu has been accused of ild assume,they are all involved in everything, buying and selling property investigatings etc,DEC is it for Drugs or corruption?
Office of the president do they deal with corruption?
Whats the role of all these bodies of the law including task force?
true more qtns than answers.
by the way mrK, this a great blog It must be the No1 Zambian related blog, maybe followed by zambian-economist.blogspot.com
keep it up.
Thanks a lot. I guess this blog is possible and relevant because The Post went subscription only, and they wouldn't include reader comments. Which would have improved their advertising revenue because readers stay on the site much longer.
Not that I didn't suggest both, of course.
And I'll list the Zambian Economist at the top right of my page - thanks for suggesting it. It is a great read.
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