Chikapa interdicted after exposing ‘corruption’ at Ministry of Lands
By Nyasa Times
Published: March 22, 2010
Government has interdicted Deputy Commissioner for Lands-Legal Services Ireen Chikapa, after she played a hard ball in the scrupulous land deal where the State House has been implicated, Nyasa Times understands.
Chikapa was posted to Ministry of Labour before government interdicted her on flimsy accusations. “She only reported at Labour last week but got communication soon after about her interdiction,” said an official from the Capital Hill.
Her crime, sources say, is that she refused to give land title deeds back to Zaeer Sacrane, son of the owner of Cresta Crossroads Hotel.
The “falsely obtained” title deed was cancelled by her hence provoking Sacrane to issue threats that they are dealing with the Head of State directly and they will “sort her out”.
The land is in Area 9 and as foreigners they are not entitled to own land in Malawi under the Land Act.
Sacrane has now hired Presidential Legal Counsel Allan Ntata to represent him in the matter.
A sum of K20 million has been sounded to have exchanged hands between “the Big Kahuna” and his henchmen.
Chikapa is said to have reported the matter of the irregularity of the title deed which was cancelled after two original copies were found to have been issued.
Police probe invited Anti-Corruption Bureau but the progress has been hampered by orders from the ‘Big Kahuna’.
“The original title deeds can only be issued and kept by Lands Department or Press Properties. In this case it seems the Indian got it from Press Properties since the land was freehold,” said an informant working for Ministry of Lands who pleaded anonymity.
“The country has become hopeless in that the President himself is dealing with crooks to the detriment of the citizens who cannot acquire prime land.
“For these Indians to have an audience with the President they have to bribe the officials and then the President charges a fee of up to K5 million for a 30 minutes conversation,” said government insiders.
Minister of Lands, Prof Peter Mwanza (pictured) urged the graft-busting body to probe his ministry over corruption allegations.
“We want you to help us curb the corruption which the ministry is involved in,” Mwanza is on record to have told ACB officials.
“Corruption is a disease which has gone deep in our society. We should not pretend that there is no corruption, especially in positions of influence. This is the first time to see you at my ministry and it is possible that someone has told you about wrong things in this ministry,” the Minister said.
Meanwhile, well-trained media practitioner, Eunice Chipangula, former state radio MBC boss has been transferred from Ministry of Labour to Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, as Deputy Secretary.
Labels: CORRUPTION, IREEN CHIKAPA, MINISTRY OF LANDS
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Chief Kaindu unhappy with govt giving land to investors
By Agness Changala
Sun 10 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT
CHIEF Kaindu of Mumbwa district has said he is very upset with the government in the way it is giving out land to investors in his chiefdom. In a statement, chief Kaindu said that customary land in his chiefdom was now in private hands because he was not consulted.
“I am very upset and dumbfounded on the way the Ministry of Lands is dispersing land in my chiefdom and all customary land in private owners including D-block,” he said.
Chief Kaindu also appealed to the government to
send surveyors to his chiefdom to make a clear demarcation between state and customary land.
He said that his subjects had nowhere to stay because land had been taken away from them by investors who claimed to have bought the land from the government.
Chief Kaindu said that the poor should be protected instead of being displaced from the land they had owned for a long time.
He also called on the government to resolve the matter amicably because his poor subjects needed protection and not victimisation.
And chief Kaindu has urged the government through the Ministry of Mines to issue licences to those involved in mining.
“I have noted with sadness that there’s a lot of illegal mining taking place in my chiefdom and these people are getting wealthy minus paying back to the community,” he said.
Chief Kaindu said the issue of illegal mining should also be resolved as soon as possible, adding that such problems coupled with land wrangles caused disputes among generations.
Labels: CHIEF KAINDU, CHIEFS, CORRUPTION, LAND RIGHTS, MINISTRY OF LANDS
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Mabenga is a noble man, says Rupiah
Written by Patson Chilemba
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 4:03:05 PM
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda yesterday said those speaking against the appointment of Michael Mabenga (r) as lands deputy minister are talking nonsense, saying Mabenga is a noble man and has done nothing wrong.
And in apparent reference to The Post, President Banda said he will demand commission from the newspaper for always using his name to sell the newspaper.
During a swearing-in ceremony for ambassadors and ministers at State House, President Banda said he had read what was being said about Mabenga, who is also MMD national chairman.
"I read what they say about you. That is nonsense. They don't like this word when it comes from me, 'Rupiah said nonsense, Rupiah'. Soon I will ask them to pay me commission for using my name to sell their newspaper. You [Mabenga] are a Zambian like any other, and if you do something wrong, there are courts there, police there. They should go there and report and take you there. You have done nothing wrong and you can see I have received a lot of congratulations from many people as a result of appointing you," President Banda said. "Because people know that you are a noble Zambian. The fact that someone may call you this and call you that, it doesn't stick unless they can prove it. So I am very happy that you have joined government. You are the chairman of the ruling party, so it is your party that has been ruling this country. It's only natural that you should be in government, as you are coming in now."
President Banda said he knew Mabenga well and trusted him both as a person and his ability to serve the Zambian people.
Mabenga abused about K30 million Constituency Development Fund (CDF) during the 2001 elections.
The Supreme Court judgment arose from an appeal against a decision of the High Court where losing Mulobezi member of parliament Sikota Wina successfully petitioned the election of Mabenga due to alleged malpractices.
The Supreme Court commented on the misuse of CDF stating that, "this in fact amounts to theft of these funds. ...the learned trial judge cannot be faulted for arriving at the conclusion that K29,800,000 was withdrawn to finance the appellant's [Mabenga] election."
On the appointment of Lameck Mangani as home affairs minister, President Banda said the Ministry of Home Affairs should be alert and ready to deal with the problems the country faced.
He said this was a very difficult time politically and some people would want to use the difficulties the country faced to assume power.
"Don't be misled by those who have got their own agendas for disrupting this country, hoping that something bad will happen to Zambia and that they will benefit. How can you benefit from problems, people who suffer? So I call upon you as Ministry of Home Affairs to ensure that there is sanity in the country and fairness for everyone in the country," President Banda said.
On the appointment of Joel Ngo as Ambassador to Brazil, President Banda said he had known Ngo for many years. He said Zambia and Brazil had a lot in common and there was a lot the country could learn from Brazil's leaders.
"They have a great leader whom we all admire in the South to South relationship," President Banda said.
President Banda also appointed Major Richard Kachingwe as High Commissioner to Malawi.
He advised the ambassadors not to listen to stories that would be written back home.
"They just want to use you, and when you are found that you are taking part, you will be called and I don't like to call my colleagues. When you have settled down for the period I have sent you there, go to school, to represent your country," said President Banda.
"You can only achieve that when you don't listen to what is happening in this country because those people have got their own agenda. They sincerely believe they can come in, it is not possible."
Labels: MICHAEL MABENGA, MINISTRY OF LANDS, RUPIAH BANDA
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Mabenga gets lands deputy minister job
Written by Nchima Nchito Jr
Sunday, July 05, 2009 4:20:30 PM
PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda has appointed Mulobezi member of parliament Michael Mabenga as deputy minister in the Ministry of Lands.
According to a press statement issued by the President’s special assistant for press and public relations, Dickson Jere, Mabenga’s appointment was with immediate effect following the death of Chitambo member of parliament Nasim Hamir who was deputy Minister of Lands.
“In exercise of the powers vested in me pursuant to the provisions of Article 47(1) of the Constitution of Zambia, I hereby appoint you deputy Minister of Lands with immediate effect,” President Banda said in a letter to Mabenga.
President Banda said it was his hope that Mabenga would execute his functions in an efficient and diligent manner.
Labels: MICHAEL MABENGA, MINISTRY OF LANDS, RUPIAH BANDA
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Suspended Commissioner of Lands acquitted
Written by Maluba Jere
Thursday, April 30, 2009 6:17:39 PM
SUSPENDED Commissioner of Lands Frightone Sichone was on Thursday acquitted by the Lusaka Magistrates Court on all four counts of abuse of authority of office charges. Lusaka magistrate Aridah Chulu acquitted Sichone after the prosecution failed to adduce enough evidence to show that Sichone did abuse his authority of office.
In the matter, Sichone was charged with abuse of authority of office contrary to section 37 (2) (a) and 41 of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act number 42 of 1996.
Particulars of the offence were that Sichone on January 20, 2006 at Lusaka, being a person employed in the public service namely, Ministry of Lands as commissioner of lands, did abuse his authority of office by allocating property number LUS/35178 Mass Media on title number 75822 to Musenge Mwewa without following procedure thereby directly or indirectly obtaining property or advantage.
On the second count, Sichone on the same day allegedly allocated property number LUS/35185, Mass Media on title number 45036 to Mesinala Namukoko without following procedure.
On the third count, he allegedly allocated property number LUS/35210, Mass Media on title number 49502 dated April 6, 2006 to Mizumbi Farms Limited, a company in which he is co-director and majority shareholder without following procedure.
Sichone on the last count allegedly allocated property number LUS/35211, Mass Media on title number 50036 dated April 21, 2006 to Mizumbi Farms Limited in which he is co-director and majority shareholder without following procedure thereby directly or indirectly obtaining property or advantage.
Sichone denied all the charges and magistrate Chulu then put him on his defence after she found him with a case to answer.
Nineteen prosecution witnesses testified in the matter while the defence called five witnesses.
Magistrate Chulu said she had considered the 19 prosecution witnesses and the detailed submissions from both the prosecution and the defence.
She observed that the prosecution had adduced enough evidence to warrant putting Sichone on his defence.
Magistrate Chulu warned herself that the onus was on the prosecution to prove the case against the accused on each and every ingredient in the charge.
In passing judgment, Magistrate Chulu noted that it was not disputed that land alienation had been delegated to the commissioner of lands by the Republican President.
She also said it was not in dispute that the land in question was institutional land belonging to ZAF.
Count three and four were jointly dealt with as the issues were similar.
Magistrate Chulu also said the prosecution had failed to prove that the accused did abuse his authority as alleged in count two and acquitted him.
She further acquitted him on count one saying the allocation of land at Mass media was approved by ZAF and the ministry’s role was that of generating offer letters.
Magistrate Chulu said it would be naïve and unreasonable for the court to convict Sichone on the charges after the prosecution had failed to ably prove that the accused did abuse his authority of office, and acquitted Sichone on all the four counts.
Labels: FRIGHTONE SICHONE, MINISTRY OF LANDS
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Reduce land application backlog - Levy
By KANGWA MULENGA
PRESIDENT Mwanawasa has directed the Ministry of Lands to speed up the backlog of applications for land acquisition, especially those for agriculture and housing development. And Dr Mwanawasa has revealed that a Government Ministry will soon be under investigations for corrupt practices. He was speaking at the commissioning of the new Ministry of Lands customer centre at Mulungushi House in Lusaka yesterday. Dr Mwanawasa was pleased with the development of a new vision for building transparency and integrity at the Ministry of Lands.
“The improvement in customer service should address the pressing need for land. I therefore direct the Ministry of Lands to seriously look into this matter,” the President said.
He said the Ministry should secure land by way of re-entry and compulsory acquisition to ensure that land could be made available to meet the overwhelming demands that government was facing in land acquisition.
Dr Mwanawasa said the establishment of the customer centre should help to enhance security and sanctity of the national heritage and wealth.
He said he was last year compelled to halt operations at the Ministry of Lands because of the high prevalence of corruption among some members of staff.
Dr Mwanawasa commended the Minister of Lands, Bradford Machila, for transforming the mindset of some members of staff who had a habit of engaging in corrupt activities.
He was happy to note that last year the Ministry collected revenue amounting to K20.4 billion which was more than the K10.9 billion it was expected to collect.
Dr Mwanawasa commended the United States government for the support towards the completion of the US$22.7 million customer centre project at the Ministry.
He was happy that over the past two years, the Government cooperation with the Zambia Threshold Project under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Millennium Challenge Corporation had yielded positive results.
And Dr Mwanawasa said he had received disturbing corrupt reports on a certain Ministry he, however, did not mention.
He said the Ministry would soon be investigated by law enforcement agencies.
“There is one Ministry to be visited by the law very soon. It’s high time they changed instead of what they are doing,” Dr Mwanawasa said.
And the President has warned civil servants that he would not hesitate to send law enforcement agencies to corrupt ministries in order to root out corruption and improve public service delivery.
He said the new deal government would remain committed to the fight against corruption in public institutions.
Earlier, Mr Machila said the Ministry had embarked on programmes aimed at improving public service delivery in the administration of land.
He said the Ministry was in the process of finalising the code of ethics for its staff.
Mr Machila said the US$22.7 million support from the US government helped the ministry to establish a State of the Art Internal Technology, conduct capacity building programmes for members of staff and the construction of the customer service centre.
And US ambassador to Zambia, Carmen Martinez, said the new customer centre would promote efficiency and transparency in administration of land in Zambia.
She said the fight against corruption should be an on-going process and that there was need for a long-term struggle involving all key stakeholders.
“The fight against corruption is an on-going long term struggle involving all of us. Simple measures such as the customer service centre that we are launching today can have a marked and direct impact that limits the opportunities for graft and abuse of official authority,” Ms Martinez said.
She commended President Mwanawasa for his quality leadership style, especially in the fight against corruption. Several cabinet and deputy Ministers attended the official commissioning of the customer centre.
Labels: BRADFORD MACHILA, CORRUPTION, LAND, LAND REFORM, MINISTRY OF LANDS, MWANAWASA
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Govt commits to improving land allocation procedures
By Chibaula Silwamba
Thursday March 06, 2008 [03:00]
THE Ministry of Lands has submitted to a World Bank delegation that it is addressing corruption vulnerabilities and timeliness in land allocation procedures as part of its efforts to improve the business environment in Zambia. According to the Ministry of Lands submission dated February 2008 to World Bank’s Doing Business delegation that visited Zambia, the time taken to register property in Zambia had been reduced from 70 days to 35 days.
“The purpose of this report is to provide updated information to the public and the World Bank on the time taken to process land transactions in Zambia in 2007 so that these updated and faster processing times may be considered by the World Bank to establish its 2009 estimate (in the Doing Business),” the ministry stated.
“The Ministry of Lands began a series of initiatives in 2007 to streamline and make more transparent the registration of lease transfers and the issuance of a new certificate of title at the lands and deeds registry.
“These activities include: systematic assessment of bottlenecks and redesign of business processes; design of a new automated and more secure lands registration system; refurbishment and reorganisation of the lands and deeds registry; establishment of a set of core values such as excellence, efficiency and collaboration to enhance staff productivity and reduce corruption in land transactions; and provision of new computers to more staff and improved survey processing software,” read the submissions.
The Ministry of Lands stated that the objective of the changes was to reduce the estimated 52 days required by the lands and deeds registry to register a lease transfer and issue a new certificate of title within 35 days.
To streamline the lease transfer process, the ministry submitted that it plans to implement a Zambia land administration system to replace the land information management system to further accelerate processing time at the lands and deeds registry and the commissioner of lands.
“We plan to incorporate a Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) representative at the new Ministry of Lands customer service centre to be launched in May 2008. This official will provide tax forms and authorise payment of Property Transfer Tax (PTT) at commercial bank facilities in the Ministry of Lands, potentially reducing the average number of days to collect tax forms and to pay PTT from five days to two days,” the ministry stated. “We plan to implement customer service standards and accountability-oriented management systems which will set and enforce timelier processing of lease transfer applications.”
Labels: MINISTRY OF LANDS, World Bank
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Development agreements not excuse to avoid mine tax, says Machila
By Mutuna Chanda
Friday February 15, 2008 [03:00]
LANDS minister Bradford Machila has advised mining companies not to use development agreements to escape the proposed tax regime on the mines. And Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) Chasefu member of parliament Chifumu Banda expressed worry that foreign investors were trying to justify their refusal to share revenues from the country’s mineral wealth.
Contributing to debate on the motion of supply in Parliament on Wednesday, Machila said development agreements did not only comprise taxes but also included other aspects that some mine investors had not fully lived up to.
“Some mine investors have not been honouring their part of the development agreements that have to do with health and safety, environment, labour and immigration,” Machila said. “The mining companies have been getting away with non-compliance to those aspects of the development agreements.”
He said in the event that the government was dragged to court over breach of the development agreements, it would be forced to defend its position. And Machila said the improper ownership of land by some foreigners was distorting land distribution in the country.
“The allocation to my ministry has been reduced by K2 billion in this year’s budget despite having achieved a revenue target of more than 100 per cent. This shall not detract us,” Machila said.
“We shall use the resources to fund the re-entry exercise and flush out those who are illegally owning land in Zambia.”
And contributing to the debate, Banda said he was vehemently opposed to foreign investors’ unwillingness to share the country’s mineral wealth.
“Government is not saying they will take all of the mineral wealth; they are saying let us share. Only those who are greedy will refuse to share the mineral wealth,” Banda said.
“During the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Zambia’s mineral wealth was used to build Zimbabwe. Why should we be shy to get a share of our country’s mineral wealth now? Congratulations to the government for taking a bold move. The measures taken by the government are welcome and well-intentioned and government should not be shy to implement them to the latter.”
And Banda challenged finance minister Ng’andu Magande to explain private companies’ debt as part of the country’s national debt.
“I hope the government is not continuing to guarantee private companies’ debt,” Banda said.
Labels: BRADFORD MACHILA, CHIFUMU BANDA, DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS, FDD, MINISTRY OF LANDS, WINDFALL TAX
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Lupando benefited from corruptly allocated plots, witness tells court
By Inonge Noyoo
Monday October 22, 2007 [04:00]
A witness in the abuse of authority case involving suspended Lands Commissioner Frightone Sichone on Friday revealed that former vice president Lupando Mwape benefited from the corruptly allocated Mass Media plots. Chabala Mulenga a lands officer was testifying before Magistrate Aridah Chulu in the case in which Sichone is charged with three counts of abuse of authority contrary to section 37 (2) (a) and 41 of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act number 42 of 1996.
Sichone is alleged to have on January 20, 2006 being a person employed in the public service namely Ministry of Lands as commissioner of lands abused his authority of office by allocating property number LUS/35178 Mass Media on title number 75822 to Musenge Mwewa without following procedure thereby directly or indirectly obtaining property or advantage.
On the second count, Sichone on the same day allegedly allocated property number LUS/35185 Mass Media on title number 45036 to Mesinala Namukoko without following procedure. On the third count, he allegedly allocated property number LUS/35210 Mass Media on title number 49502 dated April 6, 2006 to Mizumbi Farms Limited a company in which he is co-director and majority shareholder without following procedure.
Sichone on the last count allegedly allocated property number LUS/35211 Mass media on title number 50036 dated April 21, 2006 to Mizumbi Farms Limited in which he is co-director and majority shareholder without following procedure thereby directly or indirectly obtaining property or advantage.
Mulenga said the Mass Media land not only benefit ZAF but also former vice president Lupando Mwape, justice minister George Kunda, former defence minister Wamundila Muliokela and his deputy Patricia Nawa, former permanent secretary Joel Chitafu, Gen Evans Chengeta and Peter Machungwa.
She said she met most of the applicants for the land in question and that another lands officer Sarah Mulwanda issued the offer letters for the said lands.
Mulenga said the Ministry of Lands had no final lists of people who benefited from Mass Media land.
Mulenga denied having generated offer letters for plot number 35178 and 35185 belonging to Sichone and his wife Musenge Mwelwa.
“ Though I am the lands officer in charge of investigating and advising on land issues, I did not investigate about this particular one because I received instructions from Sichone to prepare offer letters and did not question as he was my boss,” she said.
Mulenga said Sichone played a role in facilitating that the ZAF land benefited other people after the former lands commissioner substituted the original lists prepared by Mulenga with other names.
Mulenga said not all of the people appearing on the offer letters list were from ZAF.
She said the former commissioner of lands should be the best to know who prepared the list of people with offer letters at the Mass Media area.
The matter comes up on November 26, 28 and 29 for continued trial.
Labels: CORRUPTION, LUPANDO MWAPE, MINISTRY OF LANDS
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Lawyers in Nyirongo’s case resolve Inambao’s status
By Laura Mushaukwa
Saturday August 18, 2007 [04:00]
LAWYERS in the case of former Lands minister Reverend Gladys Nyirongo have agreed to resolve the issue of lawyer Nathaniel Inambao being both state witness and defence lawyer. Magistrate Sharon Newa will make a ruling on the issue, if the lawyers fail to resolve it.
The state wanted Inambao who is Nyirongo’s lawyer to be a state witness but he refused to testify, saying he had been receiving instructions from Nyirongo in his capacity as lawyer.
This is in a case where Rev Nyirongo is charged with two counts of abuse of authority of office contrary to section 99(1) of the Penal Code CAP 87 of the Laws of Zambia.
Particulars of the offence are that Nyirongo on a date unknown but between January 12, 2006 and February 22 this year in Lusaka, being a person employed in the public service as Minister of Lands directed Daisy Mulenga M’soka, a lands officer at the Ministry of Lands to generate offer letters of land in Foxdale area.
The letters of offer were given to Walinase Nyirongo, Janet Isaac Nyirongo, Peter Kapolya, Peter Ngulube, Precious Ndhlovu, Doris Mulenga, Mubanga Muyunji, Mickey Mukubu, Mwelwa Kamfwa, Bruce Chipasha and Dingwall Hayden in contravention of land alienation procedures, an act prejudicial to the interests of the Government of the Republic of Zambia.
On the second count, Rev Nyirongo on unknown dates but between October 2006 and April 24, 2007 in Lusaka abused her position by directing Christopher Chewe, a junior technical officer in the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, to subdivide Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Farm F/309a in property No.L/19634/M for her and that she obtained property for herself.
The case was scheduled for ruling but it did not take off.
The matter comes up for mention on September 14, 2007 and trial on September 21 to 24, 2007.
Labels: COURTS, GLADYS NYIRONGO, MINISTRY OF LANDS
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Nyirongo pleads not guilty to 2 counts
By Inonge Noyoo
Friday July 06, 2007 [04:00]
FORMER lands minister Reverend Glad-ys Nyirongo has pleaded not guilty to two counts of abuse of authority. Taking plea before resident magistrate Sharon Newa, Rev Nyirongo, 49, said she understood the charge and was not guilty. Rev Nyirongo is charged with two counts of abuse of authority contrary to section 99(1) of the Penal Code chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia.
Particulars of the offences are that Nyirongo on a date unknown but between January 12, 2006 and February 22 this year in Lusaka, being a person employed in the public service as Minister of Lands did direct Daisy Mulenga M'soka, a lands officer at the Ministry of Lands to generate offer letters of the land in Foxdale area. The letters of offer were given to Walinase Nyirongo, Janet Isaac Nyirongo, Peter Kapolya, Peter Ngulube, Precious Ndlovu, Doris Mulenga, Mubanga Muyunji, Mickey Mukubu, Mwelwa Kamfwa, Bruce Chipasha and Dingwall Hayden in contravention of land alienation procedures, an act which was prejudicial to the interests of the government of Zambia.
On the second count, Rev Nyirongo on unknown dates but between October 2006 and April 24, 2007 in Lusaka abused her position by directing Christopher Chewe, a junior technical officer in the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, to subdivide Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Farm F/309a in property No.L/19634/M for her and did thereby obtain property for herself.
The matter comes up for setting of trial dates on July 19, 2007.
And the case in which former Zambia Airforce commander Lt Gen Christopher Singongo is alleged to have abused his authority by awarding a cleaning contract worth K486 million to Nassim Cleaning Services, a company in which he is director and shareholder, yesterday failed to take off because the magistrate was not around.
The matter comes up today for continued trial.
Labels: COURTS, GLADYS NYIRONGO, MINISTRY OF LANDS
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Ministry of Lands to establish land banks
By Nomusa Michelo
Tuesday June 12, 2007 [04:00]
LANDS minister Bradford Machila has said his ministry is in the process of establishing land banks to meet the demand for the commodity. And Machila has warned that the ministry might repossess land acquired without following right procedures. In an interview, Machila observed that there was overwhelming demand for land. He said the ministry was trying to establish a land bank in order to meet the number of applications.
“Another thing we are trying to identify is areas of land where we can create land banks, not just for the farming community but also for people that have applied and are pending allocation,” he said. “There is a backlog of the number of applications made compared to the amount of land that is available. For sometime to come, this will be an ongoing pressing challenge for us.”
Machila also said his ministry was in the process of conducting a land audit, which was necessitated by the allegations about irregularities in land allocation.
“There were a number of properties that were being allocated and in many instances without letters of applications. In a case like that, where the Commissioner of Lands finds that procedure was not followed, it may be necessary for the Commissioner of Land to re-enter or even to cancel title,” he said.
“We also recognise that there are people who acquired land, put it on title and proceeded to sell it. So we are aware that innocent third parties bought from unscrupulous property speculators and again we will ask those innocent third parties to work with us to assist in identifying those who helped them to acquire the land irregularly.”
Machila said the information given by the third parties would then be handed over to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the other investigative wings for them to follow up.
Labels: LAND BANKS, LAND REFORM, MINISTRY OF LANDS
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Sichone pleads not guilty
By Laura Mushaukwa
Saturday June 02, 2007 [04:00]
SUSPENDED lands commissioner Frightone Sichone yesterday pleaded not guilty to four counts of abuse of authority of office before magistrate Aridah Chulu. This is a matter where Sichone is charged with abuse of authority of office contrary to section 37 (2) (a) and 41 of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act number 42 of 1996.
Particulars of the offence were that Sichone on January 20, 2006 at Lusaka being a person employed in the public service namely Ministry of Lands as commissioner of lands did abuse his authority of office by allocating property number LUS/35178 Mass Media on title number 75822 to Musenge Mwewa without following procedure thereby directly or indirectly obtaining property or advantage.
On the second count, Sichone on the same day allegedly allocated property number LUS/35185 Mass Media on title number 45036 to Mesinala Namukoko without following procedure.
On the third count, he allegedly allocated property number LUS/35210 Mass Media on title number 49502 dated April 6, 2006 to Mizumbi Farms Limited a company in which he is co-director and majority shareholder without following procedure.
Sichone on the last count allegedly allocated property number LUS/35211 Mass media on title number 50036 dated April 21, 2006 to Mizumbi Farms Limited in which he is co-director and majority shareholder without following procedure thereby directly or indirectly obtaining property or advantage. The matter comes up on June 25,27 and 29 for trial.
Labels: COURTS, FRIGHTONE SICHONE, MINISTRY OF LANDS
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ACC nabs Sichone
By Times Reporter
THE Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has arrested suspended commissioner of Lands, Frightone Sichone, for alleged abuse of authority of office. And the Task Force on Corruption has recorded a warn and caution statement from former economic advisor to second Republican President, Frederick Chiluba, Donald Chanda. The joint investigation team on the ministry of Lands inquiry arrested Mr Sichone yesterday in Lusaka for abuse of office of authority and charged him with four counts contrary to Section 37 (2) of the ACC Act number 42 of 1996.
Details of the first count are that on April 6, 2006 in Lusaka, Mr Sichone allegedly abused the authority of his office by allocating property number LUS/35210 Mass Media, on title number 49502, to Mizumbi Farms Limited, a company in which he was the co-director and majority shareholder without following procedure, thereby obtaining advantage.
On the second count, Mr Sichone allegedly abused the authority of his office on April 21, 2006 in Lusaka by allocating property number LUS/35211 Mass Media, on title number 50036, to the same company.
Particulars of the third count are that on January 20, 2006 at Lusaka, Mr Sichone allegedly abused the authority of his office by allocating himself property number LUS/35178 Mass Media on title number 75822 without following procedure.
On the fourth count, Mr Sichone on January 20,2006 allegedly abused the authority of his office by allocating himself property number 35185 Mass Media on title number 45036 without following procedure. Mr Sichone was released on police bond and will appear in court today.
Meanwhile, investigations into other cases involving Mr Sichone and officials at the ministry of Lands have reached an advanced stage and more arrests may be effected soon. The commission has so far restricted 114 properties and the process of ascertaining their value and how they were acquired was still continuing.
The commission will like to urge the public with any information in the malpractices at the ministry of Lands to report to ACC as such will assist the team conclude investigations promptly.
In the matter involving Mr Chanda, Task Force acting public relations officer, Victor Makai, said the former economic aide to Dr Chiluba was warned and cautioned on five counts of abuse of authority of office concerning the Carlington maize deal.
He was alleged to have arbitrarily authorised the diversion of $1 million to a lobby contract between January 1 and December 1, 1998. Mr Makai said Mr Chanda was also warned and cautioned for allegedly receiving $9,999 cash and £580 from Carlington as an inducement or reward.
He was further alleged to have abused authority of his office by entering into a consultancy contract with Carlington, a matter that was prejudicial to the interest of the Government of the republic of Zambia.
Following the warn and caution statement recorded, Mr Makai said the matter had now been referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions for further instructions.
Labels: ACC, CORRUPTION, FRIGHTONE SICHONE, MINISTRY OF LANDS
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