Maravi

ZLA urges govt to hold conference on land

ZLA urges govt to hold conference on land
By Namatama Mundia
Wed 20 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT

ZAMBIA Land Alliance (ZLA) executive director Henry Machina has urged the government to hold a national conference on land matters before the land policy is finalised to ensure consensus. In an interview yesterday, Machina said the government should do more consultations before the land policy could be finalised.

“The government should call for a national conference on land policy because the conference will help bring consensus on a lot of issues which are outstanding such as investors, matters to do with the poor and the disabled and protecting the poor people on their land,” he said.

Machina said the government last year did not finish their consultations on the policy.

He said the land Act of 1995 should be reviewed quickly because it did not have a provision for adequate consultation as far as land allocation was concerned.

“People who are being displaced should be protected so this Act should be reviewed quickly,” Machina said.

He noted that there had been a lot of interest in land in the past year because of investors coming to Zambia.

“A lot of people have been displaced from land given to the private investors and some investors have deprived the poor people land which they have had for a long time,” Machina said.

He said traditional leaders should also be involved in land matters to protect their people.

“Traditional leaders are more interested in land, yes they need to be involved in land more particularly in protecting their own people from displacement,” said Machina.

Labels: HENRY MACHINA, LAND RIGHTS, ZLA

posted by MrK @ 5:32 AM