.CHENDA

By MARTIN NYIRENDA –

QUALIFY from the womb of the truth that the Ndola City Council (NCC) is not officially the most corrupt council in the country!
The local authority, to amplify the words of Local government minister Emmanuel Chenda, is evidently riddled with corrupt elements who should be probed in their illegal land undertakings.
Mr Chenda attests to the painful yet atrocious sin of some council officials engaging in illegal land allocations, branding the NCC as the most corrupt council in the country when it comes to land matters!
“The Ndola City Council is the most corrupt council in the country when it comes to illegal land allocation. Why should ordinary people only acquire plots through council officials and the councillors? If the residents did not inform me of what was happening, the whole piece of land would have disappeared. I want to warn sternly that I will not take kindly to such reports. I’m actually sad that all these malpractices are pointing to those people entrusted with the responsibility of allocating land. We cannot allow personal interest to override public interest just because of a few greedy people,” Mr Chenda warns, with a tinge of profound concern.
These revelations come on the heels of Mr Chenda’s recent visit to Ndola’s New Mushili area, where land reserved for construction of a district hospital has been allocated to various developers, which forced a mob of residents of New Mushili almost fighting over land encroachments on a piece of land reserved for the only mini hospital in the area.
The residents demanded a refund from the K30,000 Constituency Development Fund (CDF) that was used to clear the land earmarked for construction of a hospital.
The fuming residents accused some council officials of conniving to sell the reserved piece of land as they raised their concerns with the area councillor. The residents charged that there is a clique of some council officials behind the land scam.
Their claims, no doubt, give credence to other similar cases where some corrupt councillors , under very raw yet suspicious circumstances, have shared land reserved for upgrading existing clinics, building maternity wings as well as maize storage facilities, among other national projects — something in the public domain.
Sad enough, such cases continue to mirror similar other cases in the face the law enforcement agencies like the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) itself!
NCC Town Clerk Ernest Sumani, in almost a defeatist stance, opens up on the alleged New Mushili land scam: “You need to verify documents. Once the council allocates land, it is not illegal”.
Asked to comment on Mr Chenda’s remarks that NCC is the most corrupt council in the country with regard to illegal land allocation, Mr Sumani concedes, rather gloomily: “I can not comment on what the minister has said because it is tantamount to indiscipline. I have given him the general report.”
But lack of equity in the distribution of land in the country is disturbing enough to ignore with some social commentators contending that views espoused by Mr Chenda only amplifies the depth of corruption in land related matters at the NCC.
Out of this rather corruption riddled scenario, the minister has demanded for a land enquiry for NCC and that all transactions pertaining to the land in question in New Mushili be cancelled with immediate effect.
Until now, perceived corruption at the NCC appears a national problem very distant to elucidate.
Cases of some councilors allegedly allocating themselves pieces of land reserved for key national projects and the encroachment in land reserved for expansion of social amenities are still rife and all this put together boggles the mind of many commentators.
Some councillors have been traditionally culprits of corruption at various council levels and this endorses Vice President Guy Scott’s stance that the CDF, for instance, be scrapped — for obvious reasons — and be channeled to service delivery activities at local authorities.
As government proclaims war against the illegal allocation and acquisition of land scam, relevant authorities should move in to address the national crisis wrought by the vice because of its potential to cripple law and order in the country.
Home Affairs Minister Ngosa Simbyakula says the high prevalence of illegality and lawlessness in land allocation and acquisition was a threat to law and order in the country, adding that government was upbeat to curtail the vice.
Dr Simbyakula regrets that innocent citizens have lost their lives in defending their pieces of land on the heels of high prevalence of the land scam, something which has compelled government to establish an Inter-ministerial Taskforce on illegal land allocation and acquisition.
The Inter-ministerial Taskforce on illegal land allocation and acquisition had been constituted to curb the ever growing illegal land allocation and grabbing.
Dr Simbyakula warns that people perpetrating the illegality of land allocation and acquisition would be arrested and prosecuted regardless of their social, political or official status.
He urges the general public to report all suspected illegal land activities to the Taskforce so that those involved could be brought to book.
Dr Simbyakula intones: “There has been a high prevalence of illegality and lawlessness pertaining to land allocation and acquisition in Zambia which is threatening law and order in this country. Government is concerned with the manner in which some individuals are ignoring the law and laid down procedures in the acquisition of pieces of land in the country. Government has decided to establish the Inter-ministerial Taskforce on the illegal acquisition and allocation of land and that the Taskforce will apprehend and prosecute all perpetrators of illegal land allocations and acquisition.”
Illegal land allocation has also left some houses demolished, effectively threatening the national security.
Dr Simbyakula explains that government is fretful with the long term impact of illegal land acquisition and allocation and that was the reason some citizens had their houses demolished.
Home Affairs Deputy Minister Stephen Kampyongo chips in with the sense of alarm that there will be no sacred cows in the execution of work by the Taskforce formed to probe the national vice.
Mr Kampyongo warns that the Taskforce would ensure that those involved in illegal land allocation or acquisition were brought to book.
He says the Taskforce has already started sitting and that it has so far received numerous complaints from members of the general public and that it was currently following up individual cases.
The deputy minister also reveals that the Taskforce has managed to resolve the land dispute in Lusaka West where cadres had encroached on private land.
“We therefore warn those involved in illegal land acquisition to stop because once they are discovered, they will not be spared. We will ensure the situation is corrected and those found wanting brought to book,” he said.
The Taskforce comprises the Ministries of Land, Home Affairs and Local Government and Housing and is operating from its secretariat at the Ministry of Lands, Mulungushi House in Lusaka, where it is receiving written complaints from aggrieved members of the public.
Lands Minister Mwansa Kapeya assures that the Taskforce is also educating political party cadres on the need to follow the right procedure in land acquisition.
As it becomes even more official that the NCC is the most corrupt council in the country with regard to illegal land allocation, in the tone of Mr Chenda, the ACC and Taskforce would be wise to pick up pieces of leads to uncover allegedly rampant corruption in land allocation at the council because the New Mushili incident in Ndola is only a mere single pointer to the official rot!
Some critics finger some council officials bypassing procedure as they apply archaic systems to serve selfish personal interests hence the urge to revisit and improve the operational systems and record keeping mechanisms at the institution to curtail underhand dealings.
Corrupt public guests at NCC should be stopped from vulturing land at the expense of the majority Zambians even after manipulating documents supporting ownership of such land unless there is someone willing to qualify orthodoxically that the local authority, from the truth of the womb, is not as corrupt as society perceives it.