Maravi

Govt should have given land to NAPSA in the same manner they gave a Saudi firm - Milupi

Govt should have given land to NAPSA in the same manner they gave a Saudi firm - Milupi
By Moses Kuwema
Sat 05 Mar. 2011, 04:01 CAT

THE government should have given land to NAPSA in the same manner they did with a Saudi firm Menafea Holdings for the investment of a pineapple plant, says Charles Milupi.

Commenting on the giving out of 5000 hectares of land to Menafea Holdings in North-Western Province by the government and the selling of land to NAPSA by Meanwood Property Development Limited at a cost of US $15 million (K75 billion), Milupi said the deal did not appear clean and smelt of corruption.

Milupi who is Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) president said it was criminal for the government to make the National Pensions Scheme Authority (NAPSA) to buy land from Meanwood Property Development Limited at such an exorbitant price as doing so was robbing the poor retirees.

“The ministries of local government and lands have got so much land, why not give it to NAPSA which is a quasi-government institution? These are the inconsistencies we see in the administration of this government, it is clear that the country has been taken over by people who don't believe in sacred things such as land. And the finance minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane has the audacity to say this is not a form of colonisation, let him go to Saudi Arabia and ask for this land to see if it will be given to him,” Milupi said.


Milupi said the decision by the government would rob Zambians of their vital God-given resource of land.

“To make NAPSA buy this land is criminal, irresponsible and robbing the poor retirees because NAPSA looks after investment for workers,” Milupi said.

Milupi said Zambia already had serious issues of land from the colonial times in places like Southern Province where the indigenous people were pushed to mountains.

“If the government continues to dish out land like this, we are likely to see what happened in Zimbabwe happening here. In future, the off-spring of these people whose land is being taken away from, willrise up to demand the land. At the moment foreigners are benefiting more from investment than the locals,” he said.

He said it was even debatable if people's lives in places like North-Western Province would be improved following this investment.

Milupi said there was need for the government to also concession land to local investors so that they could also benefit.

MMD members recently expressed concern over what they termed “scandalous” transactions at NAPSA, which President Rupiah Banda wants to use to raise campaign funds for the MMD.

The sources said President Banda was using his friends to mobilise funds from parastatals for campaigns, but the money was not getting to the party.

The sources said Meanwood Property Development Limited has sold land to NAPSA at a cost of US $15 million (K75 billion).

The sources said that with the influence of President Banda, NAPSA had signed a contract with Meanwood to buy land at an exorbitant price, although the firm did not have immediate plans to use it.

And according to the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA)'s latest issue of Spotlight, a Saudi firm Menafea Holdings intends to invest US $125 million in the 5,000 hectares of land it has been given in the North-Western Province in building 2,000 housing units in Lusaka South Multi-facility Economic Zone (MFEZ).

Labels: CHARLES MILUPI, NAPSA, ZAMTROP

posted by MrK @ 6:00 AM