TIGHTEN LAND LAWS, URGES MP

By AARON CHIYANZO GOVERNMENT should expedite the development of a revised Land Act because there is too much chaos resulting from land wrangles, Patriotic Front (PF) Member of Parliament for Bwana Mukubwa constituency Jonas Chanda has charged. Dr Chanda said that there was too much chaos in the land sector because of a lack of clear laws to regulate it. He reiterated that it was unacceptable the way Zambians were being mistreated and chased away from land they had occupied for a very long time. Dr Chanda pointed out that some individuals were selling land to foreigner without consideration for the people staying on that land. He charged that land was a birth right of every Zambian and that foreigners should not be allowed to grab land from rightful owners. Dr Chanda said during the PF Interactive Forum in Lusaka yesterday that other countries do not tolerate foreigners owning land in their territory and that for them it was unimaginable. “In Bwana Mukubwa, we have a Township called Old Regiment, with over 5000 settlers who have been there since 1964. Someone just woke up and decided to sale that land where all those people live to an oil marketing company. I was at Parliament when someone just sent me a three weeks eviction notice on phone and I had to rush there. Meanwhile, Dr Chanda said that foreigners were being given too much power with regards to land, to the extent that they could even demolish structures when issues were still in court. He said that in as much as Zambia was welcoming to foreign investors, they ought to know that they did not have the same rights as locals. Dr Chanda wondered how foreigners were being given huge chunks of land without any form of investment plan. He reiterated that only serious investors, promising to create employment for the locals and inject money into the economy should be given land. Dr Chanda said that land was an important commodity people could not be careless with It as there could never been sustainable development without land.