By CHUSA SICHONE –

ALL land in the country is vested in the President who holds it for and on behalf of the people of Zambia.
However, the President, using Statutory Instrument No. 7 of 1964 and Gazette Notice No. 1345 of 1975, empowers the commissioner of lands to make grants or dispositions of land to any person subject to the special or general directions of the Minister responsible for land matters.
In the spirit of decentralisation and participatory democracy, it was agreed that district councils participate in land administration.
In accordance with Administrative Circular No 1 of 1985, all district councils on behalf of the commissioner of lands act as agents in processing of applications, selecting of suitable candidates and making recommendations.
The recommendations will invariably be accepted unless in situations where it becomes evident that doing so would lead to injustice to others or if they were contrary to national interest or public policy.
Administrative Circular No. 1 of 1985 lays down general policy guidelines concerning the procedure all district councils were expected to follow in land administration and allocation.
According to the Circular, it is the responsibility of the appropriate planning authority of the area concerned to plan stands for various uses.
Once a chosen area is properly planned, the planning authority is expected to forward the approved layout plans to the commissioner of lands for scrutiny as to the availability of land.
If the commissioner of lands is satisfied that the layout plans are in order, he or she will request the surveyor-general to number and survey the stands. A copy of the layout plan depicting the order of numbering is expected to be sent to the district council and concerned planning authority.
The stands recommended for allocation to the commissioner of lands will be assumed to have been fully serviced by the concerned district council.
However, in an event that the stands are not serviced, the district council should give reasons for its inability to provide the necessary services before the recommendations can be considered.
But before recommending stands, the concerned local authority might advertise in the press inviting interested developers to apply to the district council and upon receipt of the applications, the council should proceed to select the most suitable applicants.
The commissioner of lands upon receipt of recommendations from the district council considers the recommendations and might offer the successful applicant and send a copy of the offer to the concerned district council.
If the district council is not happy with the commissioner of lands’ decision, the matter is taken to the Minister of Lands within 30 days from the date the commissioner of lands made the decision. The Minister will then have the final say.
“No district council shall have authority in any case to permit, authorise or suffer to permit or authorise any intending developer to enter upon or occupy any stand unless and until such developer shall have first received the letter of offer, paid lease fees and the development charges and has obtained planning permission from the relevant planning authority,” the Circular states.
These are some of the guidelines contained in Administrative Circular No 1 of 1985, which Local Government and Housing Minister John Phiri recently said councils should adhere to without fail.
Addressing Journalists in Lusaka recently, Dr Phiri said the procedures outlined in Administrative Circular No. 1 of 1985 were written to forestall anarchy and abuse by councils.
“Where councils have chosen to abide by these guidelines, there are no cases of illegal allocations of land.
“However, where councils have deliberately decided to disregard the guidelines, there have been persistent reports of illegal acts of land allocations,” he said.
Dr Phiri’s remarks come in the wake of continued implications of councils in illegal land allocation.
For instance, the Ndola City Council (NCC) and Livingstone City Council are currently embroiled in illegal land allocation scams.
NCC, which former Local Government and Housing Minister Emmanuel Chenda once accused of being the most corrupt council in the country, is alleged to have provisionally allocated some residential plots in the National Forest Number 38 covering 330 hectares.
NCC rubbished those allegations, saying the land in question was intact and undeveloped but that the council had a site plan and provisional numbers for Dola Hill.
NCC pledged to deal with a cartel involved in illegal land allocation as well as rid the tag of allegedly being the most corrupt in the administration of land by putting in place some stringent measures to enhance transparency and curb alleged corruption in land administration.
NCC has put in place policy and administrative measures to promote transparency and curb corruption in land matters such as suspension of land allocation and amnesty, lifting of suspension and streamlining of land allocation.
NCC had also strengthened its integrity committee, council police and was collaborating with other Government security wings.
The Livingstone City Council, on the other hand, has suspended its Mayor Milford Maambo for 21 days for alleged involvement in illegal land allocation involving 18 plots.
In 2011, the Government through former Local Government and Housing Minister Brian Chituwo suspended the Lusaka City Council for 90 days for alleged involvement in illegal land allocation.
Dr Phiri observed that the good work by the majority dedicated councillors and council managements had often been dented by few isolated reports of gross abuse of land and total disregard of laid down procedure and structures.
“The land allocation scam in the Livingstone City Council is a case in point. I can confirm subject to the report of the council adhoc committee and inquiries by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) that it was not all councillors that were involved.
“I pay tribute to the clean councillors for being the whistle blowers in this case and for their vigilance in the matter. They have set an example for all councillors to follow in all councils countrywide,” Dr Phiri said.
Dr Phiri said the Livingstone City Council case should serve as a warning to all councils as no council or councillor would be spared in matters of illegal land allocation as all cases would be handled by the ACC for possible prosecution.
He said there is neither land reserved for special persons nor are there shortcuts in land allocation as all land earmarked for allocation to the public should follow the Administrative Circular No. 1 of 1985 guidelines.
“The fight against illegal land allocations of land by councils cannot be won by the Minister and officials in Lusaka.
“The country can only rid itself of this cancer if all of us worked together and reported violators of the law to relevant authorities. We know the culprits in our communities,” Dr Phiri said.
It is worth noting also that not only councils are implicated in illegal land allocation but officials at the Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection as well.
It is in view of the foregoing that Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Minister Christabel Ngimbu recently warned officials at her ministry to desist from engaging themselves in illegal land acquisition as the law would catch up with them besides them losing their jobs.
Ms Ngimbu also said that land audit was an ongoing exercise aimed at establishing how the resource is being utilised and how dormant land should be administered to the citizenry.
Political party cadres are also major culprits in illegal land allocation and Ms Ngimbu equally warned them that they would be arrested regardless of the party they belonged to if they continued involving themselves in such a vice.
The Zambia Land Alliance has on several occasions expressed its disgust over the rampant illegal land allocation in the country and believes that lack of a strong legal framework accepted by all key players in land administration is the main contributing factor.
With more whistle blowers coming on board to report illegal land allocation, political party leaders taming their cadres, stiffer penalties being meted out on culprits and above all strict adherence to the Administrative Circular No.1 of 1958 guidelines, it is hoped that illegal land allocation cases will drastically reduce in the country.