CADRES ARE PUTTING ILLEGAL PLOTS ON MORTGAGE – MINISTER
ALTHOUGH he is generally satisfied with the progress made in restoring sanity in his ministry, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Elijah Muchima has also admitted that the process has not been an easy one.
Mr Muchima, who has made cleaning up the image of his ministry a top priority, has just discovered that some of those who acquired land and property illegally, presumably political party cadres belonging to the Patriotic Front (PF), are mortgaging them to block possible seizures.
Although he is not new to the ministry, having previously served as a junior minister, Mr Muchima seems surprised at the extent to which people are going to in order to conceal their illegalities.
He says some of the people who acquired land and property illegally are now making it difficult for the ministry to deal with their illegalities as they are entering into agreements with financial lending institutions such as banks to protect their assets from confiscation.
“We have made tremendous headway in cleaning up the mess that was left by the previous administration, although this journey has not been an easy one,” Mr Muchima admitted.“Now they have gone to an extent of pressing mortgages on these properties which were seemingly acquired illegally so that it becomes difficult to repossess them.
That is what is happening.“We are looking at these issues vigorously and we shall keep the nation informed on the outcome.”After declaring his intention to clean up the Ministry of Lands following his appointment last month, Mr Muchima was given a wake-up call after discovering that some unknown people had allegedly tampered with the electronic system and deleted vital information of high-profile people believed to have illegally acquired land in various parts of the country.
The ministry was compelled to turn to Smart Zambia, an e-Government division under Cabinet Office, to help seal the loopholes and to address rampant inefficiencies at the Ministry of Lands.
Mr Muchima says there were a lot of re-entries into the ministry’s computerised system before Smart Zambia took over to cover up the wrongs created by past government officials.“They were quickly going to the Ministry of Lands, connive with some named officers who in turn helped them re-enter details to land and properties they acquired dubiously, and in no time, they were served with land title deeds,” he said.“Those are the kind of games these people were playing.
That is what was going on.”Mr Muchima says such illegalities have now been blocked as the access to the ministry’s computerised system is now limited.“The discoveries are quite shocking, especially the manner in which the illegal title deeds were quickly sorted out to people who were connected to the PF,” he says.
Following his appointment, Mr Muchima first identified Forest 27, a protected area in Lusaka East which was de-gazetted by the Patriotic Front (PF) administration to pave way for residential houses, as the elephant in the room that needed to be dealt with.
After touring the area with Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Gary Nkombo, he directed that all construction works and issuance of permits for Forest 27 should be halted until the investigations that he had earlier ordered regarding the de-gazetting of what is one of Lusaka’s last remaining nature reserves are concluded.
He said the clean-up will not be limited to forest 27.
ZDM