Worried school owner speaks out
Lady Emes Primary School owner Ernest Malama says it will be unfair to demolish his property
I ACQUIRED this plot legally from the council 15 years ago and it would be an injustice of the highest order for government to shift goal posts and demolish my structure, Lady Emes Primary School Proprietor, Ernest Malama has complained.
Mr Malama whose school is earmarked for demolition for allegedly being built on a drainage system along Lusaka’s Lumumba road at Mandevu junction, told the Daily Nation that he together with his other neighbours legally acquired the plots from the local authority 15 years back.
His outbursts come after State House directive that the alleged unplanned structures which include his property and a newly built filling station near Mandevu junction should be demolished, and drainages be reclaimed to avoid re-occurrence of flooding on Lumumba road.
Recently, special assistant to the President for project, implementation and monitoring Andrew Chellah undertook an on-the-spot- check of Lusaka’s Lumumba-Mandevu junction road following numerous persistent complaints from motorists over the damaged road and flooding.
Mr Chellah was accompanied by chief analyst for policy implementation and monitoring Joseph Mukupa when he made an impromptu tour of LumumbaMandevu junction to ascertain why the potholed road had flooded. But after assessing the situ- ation, Mr Chellah immediately summoned RDA director for road maintenance, William Mulusa, to explain the situation to which the RDA chief distanced the agency from the problem, saying the flooding was as a result of blocked drainages caused by illegal structures built nearby.
His counterpart LCC director of city planning Godwin Chinoya who had tough time explaining expressed ignorance about the alleged illegal structures which include Lady Emes Primary School, some houses and a filling station which is under construction near Mandevu junction.
This incensed Mr Chellah who took a swipe at Mr Chinoya for ‘tolerating’ unplanned structures which were erected on the drainages system.
The visibly annoyed Mr Chellah directed that the unplanned structures be demolished, drainages be reclaimed to avoid recurrence of flooding on the road and immediately rehabilitate it.
But in an exclusive interview with the Daily Nation, Mr Malama said he was shocked that his property was labelled as an illegal structure when he bought the plot legally from the same LCC that wants to demolish it.
He lamented that it would be very unfair for the government to demolish his property he acquired using the right channel.
“We legally bought these plots with my surrounding neighbours between 2002 and 2003 from the Lusaka City Council and we have legal documents. It will be an injustice of the highest order for LCC to all the sudden turn around and allege that our structures are illegal when they are the ones who sold us.
“If you want, go to LCC and find out about this plot (no. 27052), you will find out that I got it legally and I have all the documents. It will not be fair for us to be punished for the mistakes committed by the council themselves because if they knew that this place was illegal, they would not have allowed us to apply and buy the plots,” Mr Malama said.
Mr Malama appealed to the government to be considerate and find a better way of improving the drainage system rather than demolishing the building which has been in there for a long time now.
He said he was ready to cooperate with the both LCC and RDA engineers to collectively sort out the drainages issue in a more fair way than having his structure demolished as it was only his source of income.