(LUSAKATIMES) Government to repossess all land acquired corruptly in the past 10 years

Government to repossess all land acquired corruptly in the past 10 years
TIME PUBLISHED - Monday, December 5, 2011, 9:27 am

Lands, Energy and Water Development Minister Christopher Yaluma

GOVERNMENT has embarked on a countrywide land audit which will result in all “irregularly and corruptly” acquired land in the last 10 years being repossessed by the State.

Government has also warned that it will prosecute and dismiss any officials from the Ministry of Lands found to have been involved in any illegal land sales.
Land, Energy and Water Development Minister, Christopher Yaluma, said in Lusaka yesterday that the land audit was, in the long run, meant to enable Zambians easier access to land.

“We have just started some random land audit. We are, soon, going to embark on a countrywide audit to ensure that all the land that was irregularly acquired in the last 10 years is repossessed. “If there are officials from my ministry involved in these irregular allocations, we shall ensure that they are prosecuted and fired instantly,” he said.

The Minister has since called upon members of the public to provide information of any irregularly or corruptly acquired land.

He said it was the Patriotic Front (PF) Government’s policy that all Zambians should benefit from their natural resources like land.

Meanwhile Mr. Yaluma has said that Government was working towards ensuring that Zambians access oil products like petrol, diesel and kerosene at affordable prices.

He said government was looking to find alternative fuel sources that would supply the commodity at a reasonable price.

“We need to cut off the middlemen because that is what is making fuel expensive. We want Zambians to get better prices for diesel, petrol and kerosene,” he said.

The minister also revealed that the PF Government was reviewing the solar geyser programme that was started by the MMD in collaboration with Zesco Limited.

He said while the solar geyser project was being used as a political gimmick by the previous government, it could help the country save on electricity if well implemented.

“We are reviewing the project, if well implemented and not as a political gimmick, the project can help us manage the electricity shortages and even enable us save power so that the country could even have excess,” he said.

Before the September 20 tripartite elections, the MMD embarked on a solar geyser project, which was targeted at densely populated residential areas. The project was launched by former president, Rupiah Banda.

[Times of Zambia]