Stop bulldozing Chiefs, Govt advised
By SIMON MUNTEMBA & LINDA SOKO TEMBO GOVERNMENT should incorporate traditional leaders’ opinions whenever it is trying to come up with a policy rather than bulldozing them, the Green Party leader Peter Sinkamba has said.
And the Zambia Land Alliance (ZLA) executive director Nsama Nsemiwe said government must engage all traditional leaders in the country in the process of drafting the national land policy.
Reacting to an incident in which traditional leaders walked out on Lands Minister Jean Kapata to express displeasure on the land policy which they feel disregards their role as chiefs, Mr Sinkamba said government should not bulldoze the whole process to avoid some misunderstandings.
Mr Sinkamba said there was need for government to avoid what happened to Ms Kapata.
The land policy validation meeting failed to take off as chiefs from across the country, who are major stakeholders in land issues, walked out of a meeting at Intercontinental Hotel in Lusaka that was discussing the drafted land policy.
However, Ms Kapata disclosed that despite what she called a minor “setback”, government will hold another land policy validation meeting once its concluded discussions with the traditional leaders adding that her ministry will address some of the issues raised by the Chiefs when they rejected the draft policy last week.
Mr Sinkamba in an interview said the government should allow the chiefs to infuse their own ideas in the draft policy if the policy is to succeed.
“Validation meeting should be convened when you have consulted the stakeholders and after they have told you what they want to be included in the document.
“But the way it appeared last week is like there was no consultation at all with the chiefs and they cannot be told to validate the things they were not part and parcel in terms of their views on how land must be managed,” Mr Sinkamba said.
Meanwhile, Ms Nsemiwe said the concerns that the traditional leaders raised during the national validation meeting on the proposed national land Policy on Wednesday last week were genuine.
Ms Nsemiwe explained that the chiefs felt the time that they had been allocated for them to go through the important national land policy was not enough and they had requested for more time adding that the country had over 280 chiefs but the once presents were less than 30.
“The Chiefs indicated that the time that was allocated for them to add their input during the process about 3 to 4 hrs. Was too short for such an important document they requested that they be given more time may be 2 to 3 days.
“The other issues that they brought to light which was very cardinal was the fact that they were over 280 and chiefs and less than 30 were represented in the house,” she said.
Ms Nsemiwe said they were for the view that they could not make decisions on behalf of the other chiefs because their number was less than the majority and they needed clarification which was very well understood.
She said as an organisation that was advocating for a land policy in the country they were for the view that it was important that all stakeholders not only the Civil Society Organisation (CSOs) but even traditional leaders should contribute to the final land policy.