LANDS MINISTRY HAS NO FULL ACCESS TO OWN SYSTEM
THE Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has failed to deal with some land malpractices because it is not fully in charge of the Zambia Integrated Lands Management Information System (ZILMIS), which it has used for the last nine years.
Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources Permanent Secretary Ndashe Yumba said the developer of the system, who is in Israel, is the only one with source codes which allow full access.
Government in 2013 engaged an Israeli company to set up ZILMIS, a computerised land administration system to provide secure, transparent and traceable land transactions that would help in identifying fraudulent practices.
However, the latest Auditor General’s report has revealed weaknesses in the management It’s an Israeli jobLands ministry has no full access to own systemof the ZILMIS in the issuance of title deeds.
The report revealed, among other things, that 2,769 properties on the system had missing information on the land size and location.But when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday, Mr Yumba said information on the land size and location is not mandatory on the system, hence it was not captured during the creation of the 2,769 properties entered.
Mr Yumba’s response left PAC members in disbelief, with nominated Member of Parliament Likando Mufalali wondering why it has taken the ministry nine years to realise that there is need to change.
Chavuma MP Victor Lumayi, who is an old PAC member, asked why the controlling officer has been appearing before the committee to explain the same challenges under ZILMIS for the last few years.
PAC acting committee chairperson Jacqueline Sabao wondered why the ministry has failed to address the challenges under the ZILMIS if it has used the system for nine years.In response, Mr Yumba said Zambia has not yet transitioned from manual to electronic because ZILMIS has only duplicated land administration processes of 1994.
“Under the current system, anybody can go into the system without being traced,” he said. “ZILMIS has outlived its usefulness. We need to transition to a fool-proof home-grown system.“Even if we say we own ZILMIS, we cannot make any changes to it without the developer because he owns the source code which allows you to enter the system and make alterations,” he said.
Mr Yumba said the country’s land records are being backed up in Israel and not in Zambia.But Nalolo MP Imanga Wamunyima did not buy into the explanation and put the blame on the controlling officer, who he said should have exposed such a scenario a long time ago.
Mr Yumba took full responsibility.“I take full repsonsibiliy for the failures of the system,” he said. “We (ministry) apologise to citizens for contracting a system that has failed to deliver to the expectations of Zambians.”Mr Lumayi asked the controlling officer to suggest what can be done quickly to address the various challenges caused by ZILMIS.
“It is because of such a system that we find one land with four titles,” he said.Mr Yumba said the ministry has already engaged Smart Zambia to help it develop an electronic system that will, among other things, enable it (ministry) to produce land titles electronically.
He said the new system will enable people to pay ground rent, among other fees, directly to the Ministry of Lands instead of councils.The Auditor General’s report has revealed that 58 councils failed to remit K173,863,189 they collected on behalf of the Ministry of Lands as ground rent.
Mr Yumba said they have engaged the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to recover the money local authorities owe the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources from the Equalisation Fund.
In closing, Ms Sabao, who is also Chikankata MP, urged Mr Yumba to be fully in charge and correct what is happening at the ministry because the new dawn administration will not tolerate such anomalies.
Daily Mail