. Kampyongo

By ADRIAN MWANZA –
DEPUTY Minister in the office of the Vice-President Stephen Kampyongo has warned the Lusaka City Council (LCC) over the Chinika area land saga.
Mr Kampyongo said LCC had been embroiled in corruption and that innocent people were losing land because they did not have money.
The deputy minister said this when he visited families in Chinika area whose houses were demolished by an individual who claimed ownership of the land.
“There is need for equity and no one should grab land from the poor just because they have money to bribe people,” Mr Kampyongo said.
Mr Kampyongo said the Government would not tolerate lawlessness and that it would follow the case to the core and bring to book whoever was involved.
He said there was something fishy about the demolition and that the Government was suspicious about the whole saga.
Mr Kampyongo called upon LCC to look into the matter and bring the people running a ‘cartel’ in the council to book.
He said the Government had engaged the Disaster Management Mitigation Unit (DMMU) to provide tents and other amenities needed to cushion the burden on the affected families.
Crispin Chandwe, the area chairperson, expressed shock at the demolition of the houses, claiming the land belonged to them.
Mr Chandwe said some people had lived in the houses for more than 50 years and had raised families on the same property.
He said 32 flats were demolished by a combined team of police officers and drunken individuals, on instruction from TESNO General Dealers, who harassed and even beat up some victims.
Mr Chandwe called on the Government to come in and rectify irregularities of illegal cartels in local authority that was dubiously giving title deeds.