Maravi

Private ownership of land is a foreign ideology – Chief Mwamba

Private ownership of land is a foreign ideology – Chief Mwamba
By Moses Kuwema and Henry Sinyangwe
Sat 31 July 2010, 03:50

SENIOR chief Mwamba of the Bemba speaking people in Kasama has said private ownership of land is a foreign ideology.

In his submissions to the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) yesterday, chief Mwamba said the current administration of land by traditional authorities was more transparent and democratic since the village heads and communities were the real custodians of land.

“Our system is that the land is yours for as long as you work on it, and the fruits of your labour belong to you. But you don’t own it. It is the people’s property,” he said.

“The current system of land allocations requires persons seeking land to go first to the community through village committees, headed by village heads, before the final approval by the concerned chief. Therefore, we are demanding the removal of Clause 4 as contained in the NCC draft constitution.”

Clause 4, subsection 3 in article 290 of the draft report reads as follows:

“Customary land shall not be alienated or otherwise used until the approval of the chief and local authority in whose area the land is situated has first been obtained and as may be provided by or under an Act of Parliament.”

Subsection 4 reads: “An approval under the clause (3) shall not be unreasonably withheld.”

Chief Mwamba observed that in its proposed form, Clause 4 had a bearing on Clause 3, because the provisions in Clause 4 delude the powers of Clause 3.

“Furthermore, the wording ‘unreasonably’ is not only very ambiguous but also relative. There are no parameters attached in Clause 4 which may clearly define what may constitute ‘unreasonable’,” observed chief Mwamba.

He said Clause 4 did not specify the authority that shall declare the decisions of traditional authority under Clause 3 to be unreasonable.

“The contents in Clause 4 do not appear anywhere in the interim report of the Constitution Review Commission and therefore a group of very unreasonable persons have smuggled very unreasonable, unrealistic and unacceptable provisions which are totally against the interests of the peasants in the rural areas into the draft constitution of the republic of Zambia,” said chief Mwamba.

He has since collected about 2,500 signatures demanding the removal of the clause.

And Evelyn Hone College students yesterday submitted that the Law Association of Zambia must be given the authority to come up with a committee that sits to appoint senior judicial officers.

The students noted that presidential appointments to the judiciary was seen to be compromising institution hence the need for LAZ to do it.

Labels: CHIEF MWAMBA, LAND RIGHTS, NCC, TITLE DEEDS

posted by MrK @ 3:22 PM