MINISTER of Local Government, Housing, Early Child Education and Environmental Protection Nkandu Luo has warned that government will retire local government officers involved in corruption and fraud, to protect the integrity of councils.
Professor Luo said in an interview in Kitwe yesterday that transferring council officers involved in dubious activities to other stations will not restore sanity in local authorities. She said government is working to ensure that all fraudulent activities in local authorities are brought to an end.
“All those who are being investigated for illegal activities if found wanting, will be retired. We are not going to transfer them to other districts because that does not help. We want to restore integrity in local authorities,” Prof Luo said.
She said investigations into allegations of mismanagement against town clerks at Kitwe City Council, Mongu Municipal Council and Kabwe Municipal Council have been concluded and the findings have been submitted to her office.
Prof Luo, however, said council officers under investigation will be given an opportunity to exculpate themselves, before any action is taken. She said government wants to ensure that local authorities operate in a transparent and efficient manner, for the benefit of the people.
Prof Luo said some local government officers have allegedly amassed wealth dubiously and own more than 10 pieces of land. She said during the MMD rule, local authorities experienced the worst form of abuse of resources and illegal allocation of land.
“Our officers in the local authorities are the richest if you did not know. Some of them own more than 10 pieces of land. They even have properties around the city which they obtained fraudulently,” Prof Luo said.
She said government will not hesitate to confiscate land which was irregularly obtained, to bring sanity to the local authorities. She said government is currently conducting a land audit in all parts of the country, to establish how much land was obtained illegally.
Prof Luo is sad that illegal settlers in Kitwe have encroached on most of the land meant for development projects. “We are just from Chimwemwe where we found a young girl building a house on land designated for a play park. We would like to warn all those who acquired land illegally to surrender it before the law visits them,” she said.
[Zambia Daily mail]
KITWE CITY COUNCIL,is it not where the new guy who succeeded mr simwinga went with a bang,telling how he intended to transform and develop kitwe.to reach the standards like what he saw in japan
This is a good move, honourable minister.We need discipline, honesty, and hard work to bring sanity to our Motherland.I feel hurt, having studied and worked in many african and european countries, to see how behind we are in our country, becoz of selfishness and lack of commitment.All those offenders must be brought to book.Zambia is very much blessed.We cant just sit back and see useless people impoverishing our nation and causing serious harm to many of our citizens.
Dont just retire them but they should be taken to court.
How is she going to do it? Aka kamayo nako. Kaba ubwipi nokutunkumana. How is she going to know they are corrupt without proving cases in court?
I don’t trust this woman!
Empty threats. HEMS will just upset everything. I dont know why she even talks in public.
Real corruption in PF. fighting corruption using corruption.
Lusaka City coucil was administered by PF in the last 5 years where corruption of land allocation was rife. What have you done to the corrupt mayor and his councellors. Its a joke to hear fighting corruption with PF govt. Begin with your own as a signal of truth and seriousness.
As at now keep on talking to PF cadres and impress them.
Why is this lady still in cabinet after the Sata overruled her on getting rid of street vendors, not integrity at all in these so called highly learned Zambian professionals….I’m sure people who want a clean cities would have supported her decision if she resigned..
ICASA thief
* Why is this lady still in cabinet after Sata overruled her on getting rid of street vendors on our streets, no integrity at all with some of these so called highly learned Zambian professionals….I’m sure people who want clean cities would have supported her decision if she resigned..
*Corrected version.
Retire those who are corrupt Zambia doesnt belong to them , there are more capable people out there
This is ths stupidity that I cannot stomach. If people are corrupt you arrest and charge them and not retire them to go and enjoy their pension.