Maravi

Local communities should benefit from their land – Phiri

Local communities should benefit from their land – Phiri
By Henry Sinyangwe in Mumbwa
Mon 01 Mar. 2010, 05:10 CAT

LOCAL communities must benefit from their land and not chased away by the investors Royal Kaindu Limited member Sipho Phiri has said.

Speaking during the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the Kaindu Natural Resources Trust (KNRT) and Royal Kaindu Limited on Friday, Phiri said it was worrying that land was given to investors and the locals were chased out of their land.

“The community must benefit from the profits made by investors in their land,” Phiri said. “The problem is land is given to the investors and the local community is left out on benefits.”

He said it was important that locals did not sell the land but lease it so that when the investor was not successful, the land would still remain theirs to avoid confusions.

And speaking through his brother Cliff Kasise, chief Kaindu of the Kaonde-Ila people said his community was poor because it had suffered loss of resources due to dubious investors.

He said his chiefdom had been disappointed by many investors who had promised them so much but ended up doing nothing for the local people.

“Kaindu chiefdom has suffered a great loss of resources due to dubious investors who only come and promise us heaven on earth but later end up disappointing the community in terms of social delivery,” Kasise said.

He said since independence his chiefdom had never had such an agreement with an investor but every thing was done without his consent.

The Royal Kaindu Limited is an initiative of Tom Younger and Andrew Baldrey who have embarked on the development of a high class leisure facility in Mumbwa’s chief Kaindu’s area to cater for both local and international markets.

Labels: KAINDU NATURAL RESOURCES TRUST, LAND RIGHTS, ROYAL KAINDU LIMITED, SIPHO PHIRI

posted by MrK @ 3:32 PM