CLEAN-UP LAND MESS
INVESTIGATIONS that were carried out at the Lusaka and Kitwe City Councils should be extended to other local authority, considering that illegalities in land allocations have permeated almost all council jurisdictions.
Thus the exercise conducted at the two local authorities should be seen as a launch-pad for the probe to be extended everywhere.
With the rise in population, there has been greater demand for land among desperate citizens, who are now accepting any offer even in water logged areas and in locations reserved for electricity and water infrastructure.
As a result, physical pl anning has been thrown to the wind as structures are coming up all around, even encroaching grave yards. This must come to an end!
The probe which followed the suspension of the two councils has exposed irregularities with 19 councillors cited for the crimes and will now have to face law enforcement agencies.
Yes, the investigations took 90 days and obviously citizens are anxious to know the civic leaders cited to have had a hand in illegal land allocation.
The Patriotic Front (PF) Government has been magnanimous enough to crack the whip in Lusaka and Kitwe council, which are dominated by councillors from the ruling party.
Reports abound about civic leaders taking the lead in looting pieces of land including the river banks and marshlands, which naturally are supposed to be spared from human habitation.
In Kitwe, some excited councillors went on a wanton scramble for plots and almost desecrated the security zone close to the Presidential Lodge at the edge of Ndeke Township.
They dared everyone and demarcated the land such that it had to take Local Government Permanent Secretary, Ed Chomba, to travel from Lusaka to save the security zone from being encroached.
In the meantime, the councillors in collusion with council workers had already lined up beneficiaries for the same land.
Had it not been for the Permanent Secretary, structures could have by now started sprouting around the Presidential Lodge.
It is hoped that officials at the two councils have taken time to reflect on their pitfalls during the time they were on suspension.
Even those in other jurisdictions should have had time to reflect on every action in relation to land allocation after their counterparts in Lusaka and Kitwe were banned from July 27 to October 30, this year.
Therefore, Government should probe all councils, starting with those in the urban areas and of course extending the exercise to the hinterland.
For the umpteenth time, we wish to remind all councillors that they are not full time employees in respective councils, but are part-timers who should stick to their lane of offering policy guidance.
Secondly, councillors are there to offer service and not to reap from the already financially crippled local authorities.
They must immediately stop perpetrating illegalities and give appropriate guidelines; they must keep away from the civic centres when their presence is not required.
It is sad that some councillors spend much of their time trudging corridors of the councils with a puffed up ego as though they are full-time employees, issuing illegal instructions.
Some of them are spotted lurking in the car parks or under trees within council premises, baying for prospective “customers.”
The residents must henceforth stop dealing with councillors on matters relating to land and only conduct such business with authorized full-time employees in councils and the Ministry of Lands.
Investigations must surely be extended to all councils.