NEW BILL TARGETS LAND TITLE FRAUD – MUCHELEKA
Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources Permanent Secretary, PATRICK MUCHELEKA, says the Lands and Deeds Registry Amendment Bill No. 13 of 2025 will significantly improve efficiency in land administration and strengthen legal safeguards.
Mr. MUCHELEKA explains that the proposed amendment will empower the Chief Registrar to administratively rectify or cancel certificates of title under specific conditions, without the need for a court order.
He was speaking when he presented submissions on the Lands and Deeds Registry Amendment Bill No. 13 of 2025 to the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Lands and Deeds
Mr. MUCHELEKA noted that the measure will enhance efficiency, lower costs, and boost public confidence in the land administration system.
He also said that the amendment would enable the Chief Registrar to act swiftly against fraudulently acquired land titles, thereby safeguarding the interests of the marginalised and vulnerable.
Meanwhile, Chief Registrar, AGATHA BANDA, stated that the cancellation of land titles will be carried out strictly within the confines of the law.
Ms. BANDA further noted that the Bill is intended to clean up the land administration system.
ZNBC
The Chief Registrar given authority to cancel a Land Title without a Court Order??
From the confusion at the Registrar of Societies, we are now seeing ‘ Chabinga ‘ being extended to the Chief Registrar of Lands! I see a total mess at the Registrar of Lands.
What is a more effective way to address fraudulently acquired Titles… through the Zambia Police and Court Proceedings or through the pen of the Chief Registrar?
Something is fishy here… very fishy.
There’s some land being targeted under this Bill 13. It’s not as Innocent as is being presented. But like all bad laws , this Bill 13 will come to haunt the people drafting it in future….when politics will confiscate their land suspected to have been ‘ fraudulently’ acquired.
Where is the security of land Tenure in this Bill which is a guarantee for Investment? The Registrar of Lands can easily sweep my land rights on my small holding with just a stroke of a pen.
Tasila Lungu may today lose her land by the stroke of the pen of the Chief Registrar of Lands, tomorrow Politics will grab the land of your Children by this same pen which is being made to be above the courts..but subservient to a Political Power.
Tasila Lungu has already lost that land. What you might want to reference to is the PF and MMD cadres that went into Peoples farms and gave out plots. That is fraud.
However I agree with you that the law may grant too much authority to the Chief Registrar to cancel certificate of title a whim or due to political pressure as we saw in the case of the former Commissioner of lands and former High Court Judge Muma.
Tasila lost that land she obtained through a court ordered forfieture. Tasila dubiously got land from the state that was previously a sanctuary. Another sign that shows that the system is flawed. Land owned by state instutitions should not have their titles so easily replaced. The PF and other leaders Forestry 27 should have their titles cancelled by way of court order not at the whim of an individual. All these cases cited show what happens when too much power is given to individuals who at the stroke of a pen abuse the offices they occupy. Go through the assets owned by officers at the Ministry of Lands and PSs how did they amass so much land while in office? Its such cases that our investigative wings need to focus on and prosecute and forfeit. The Plots that cadres were selling and the individuals doing the selling that need to be prosecuted.