Malawi’s Deputy Minister of Lands Abida Mia fires warning shot on illegal sale of land in Zomba

Written by Innocencia Chikuse

ZOMBA-(MaraviPost)—The country’s Deputy Minister of Lands Abida Sidik Mia has vowed to reverse illegal sale of land in Zomba and brought to book all perpetrators behind the malpractice.

The Deputy Minister said this when she toured Zomba city council whose jurisdiction has an increased number of dubious land transactions.

“We have, for the few days we have been in office, received a number of complaints related to land across the country and Zomba is topping the list.

“My boss, the Minister of Lands, Kezzie Msukwa, therefore delegated me to appreciate the situation on the ground. It is a disheartening situation. The cases here range from selling the same parcel of land to multiple clients.

“Some daring officers have also been selling land even on Zomba plateau, a reserved area, just imagine. The same is the case here at Ndangopuma Hill where we have managed to secure an injunction to stop the illegality going on here,” Mia said.

She added: “I have appreciated the situation, will go back to the office, and report to my boss but rest assured that those fingered in this fraud will be brought to book,“ she said adding “President Chakwera’s mantra is zero tolerance against corruption and as his representatives in this Ministry, we are determined to clear the rubble of corruption so we can build a better Malawi for all.”

During the interaction with senior officials, Mayor for the City, Benson Bula, asked the Deputy Minister to consider extending the boundary of the city at least by seven miles arguing that the city has run out of land for various development activities.

“Much of the land here is customary and not public. We therefore request if we can have the city boundary extended by 7 miles for us to have land we can use for commercial, industries and other land uses,” Bulu said.

The Deputy Minister assured the Mayor that she will present the matter to her bosses at Capitol Hill in Lilongwe for consideration. In attendance of the Deputy Minister’s tour was also Member of Parliament for Zomba City, Bester Awali and his councilors.

Maneno Chimulala

I am a journalist, educator, and activist with passion for telling stories about social justice, sports and political issues. I graduated from Mzuzu University. I started my career at the Maravi Post online publication in 2012 as an intern while in college. Upon graduating from Mzuzu University I was offered a job as Sports Reporter because of my background as a goalkeeper and rose to the position of sub editor. I also had a short stint with Nyasatimes, Malawi Punch and Malawi Digest. Over the past seven years, I have worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Malawi on human rights, girl child education and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in education, I also volunteer as male champion for girls’ education under Girls Empowerment Networks (GENET) in Malawi’s South West Education Division (SWED).