Give us title deeds
Dear editor,
I WRITE to raise awareness over the land which once belonged to Mr Andrew Kashita, the former transport and communications minister. The land is situated west of Kamanga Basic School.
In 1998 he demarcated the said land and sold it to individuals who later built houses in what is today called Kamanga Overspill. At that time, Mr Kashita had engaged Mr Sonny Mulenga to oversee selling of the plots and many people bought the plots and paid money to Mr Mulenga until for some unknown reason, Mr Kashita came personally and stopped all those with outstanding balances from paying to Mr. Mulenga but to himself. Later the new plot owners were told to pay for a loan which Mr Kashita owed a bank so that a “CAVEAT" could be removed since the land’s title was used as collateral by Mr Kashita to obtain a loan from the bank. This money was donated and paid through a lawyer who even came to reassure the poor residents that now that they had raised the required sum, the title shall be subdivided and each house hold would have a title. To date, nothing has been done even after the loan at the bank had been cleared. My fear is that Mr Kashita is now in his advanced age and he should ensure that the people on this piece of land are issued with tittle deeds before something happens to the big man. The people do not owe him anymore money. In the meantime, there are people who are going round almost every month calling for meetings from where they are collecting money and not issuing receipts, claiming they are fighting to get our title deeds. I advise people in Overspill in Kamanga/Chamba Valley area not to pay anything to these people until we see our titles. Twenty years is such a long time to wait.
Jack Phiri, LUSAKA.