Lusaka Mayor Miles Sampa has cautioned Lusaka Councillors against commenting on the Forest 27 developments in the media.
Mr Sampa said the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is the principle in terms of land allocation while Local Authorities are merely agents which perform delegated duties.
He said the fact that Ministry of Lands has appointed Local Authorities as agents does not take away the power of allocating land from them.
The Mayor was speaking during a Special Council Meeting held in the Council Chamber yesterday.
The Mayor’s comment comes in the work of a story in yesterday’s Daily Nation newspaper banner headlined “FOREST 27: WE KNOW NOTHING…LCC Councillors deny granting authorisation to developers.”
“Local Authorities are simply agents of the Ministry of Lands, which is why they revoke the agency when they discover that a particular Council is not following procedure in land allocation. Granting agency to Local Authorities does not mean giving away the power and responsibility of performing any of those duties,” he explained.
Mr Sampa observed that Forest 27 was legally de-gazetted by President Edgar Lungu and the Ministry of lands in their own rights and powers decided to allocate plots to deserving applicants on their waiting list.
He said it is none of Council’s business who the Ministry of Lands chose to distribute their land to.
“You cannot wake up and complain about who they give their land to, it’s their prerogative” he stressed.
Mr Sampa advised Councillors to always remember Council’s boundaries and stick to its lane.
However, Mr Sampa explained that despite the Ministry of Lands allocating plots in the de-gazetted Forest 27, the power to scrutinise building plans and granting of construction permits still remains with the Council.
In Monday’s Daily Nation newspaper, Lusaka Town Clerk, Alex Mwansa, confirmed that seven developers in forest 27 have been authorised to commence construction.
Mr Mwansa said the developers had met all requirements.
The Mayor reminded Councillors that the plans were approved by Council and that it is unfair for some Councillors to deny granting authorisation to developers.
“When reports are brought before us let us make sure that we read and scrutinise them so that we know what we are approving and take responsibility,” he advised.
And Speaker of the National Assembly yesterday directed Lands and natural Resources Minister Jean Kapata to issue a Ministerial statement of the developments in the Forest Reserve number 27.
The Speaker advised the Minister to also liaise with her counterparts from the Ministry of Local Government and Water Development.
This was after Mazabuka Member of Parliament Gary Nkombo rose on a point of Order seeking a ruling on whether the Ministers were in order to keep quiet on the developments in the Forest Reserve.
“……..Forest 27 was legally de-gazetted by President Edgar Lungu ……”
It is this corrupt thief lungu now vandalizing and looting our ancient forests while shamelessly attenfing climate change gatherings….
All past presidents saw the benifit of reserving forests, not this corrupt fraud convict president.
Future generations of Zambians will find nothing.
Mr. Sampa please get some psychiatric help. For your own good. Its very clear that you need help. Your words are incoherent. Once again I thank God that he prevented you from becoming president because if there were a worse candidate for presidency that Mr. Lungu its you, Miles Sampa.
Please just dont open your mouth, because everytime you do, the stuff that comes out…..
I think Miles is delivering a veiled message here, and I am sure Lungu will not be happy.
Who gives Lungu authority to start giving out land to his corrupt friends?
Miles is simply telling the nation exactly who started this mess.
Lungu appears to be bang in the middle of every corruption scandal in our country.
Zambians vote wisely please.
Do not vote for drunkards and thieves.
Do not vote for people that stole money from widows.
This Boy is Dull, did he Finish Grade 12?? or He Bought a certificate from His Matero Constituency. Because that’s the Headquarters of Stolen and Forged Certificates.
Gagging any Zambian on national issues is ridiculous
As citizens we MUST PROTEST when need arises. Protest remains fundamental in enhancing human rights and a democratic society? The six basic reasons why we need to protect and exercise the right to protest are as follows;
1. People realise that they are not alone
One way in which the establishment maintains its power is by creating a dominant discourse from which dissidents’ views are excluded. If people think differently, they may feel isolated, marginalised and powerless. Public demonstrations and marches empower people by showing them that there are thousands of people who think the same things.
2. By protesting, we alter the agenda and start a debate
Those in power may try to ignore us, but if there are enough protesters then they will feel the need to come up with reasons why all…
Continued
… with reasons why all of the protesters are wrong. That is when the debate begins and argument becomes possible.
3. In an electoral democracy, protest provides an essential voice for minority groups
The classic theorists of representational government recognised that universal suffrage and majority voting threaten to impose the ‘tyranny of the majority’ and override the rights of minorities. Protests are a vital corrective to majority rule.
4. Sometimes we win!
If there are enough protesters, the policies of those in power may become unworkable. When the UK government introduce the flat-rate Poll Tax in 1990, huge numbers of people protested and refused to pay the tax. It became clear that prosecuting everyone who refused would be impossible, chaos threatened, and the…
Continued
… , chaos threatened, and the government abolished the tax.
5. Sometimes we win in ways we had not intended or planned
Political events are unpredictable. The protests against nuclear cruise missiles at Greenham Common in the UK in the 1980s appeared to have failed when the missiles were installed, but the protests had forced the US and UK governments into saying that they had to deploy the missiles only because the Soviet Union was doing the same. When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union and said that he was willing to make an agreement to withdraw all the missiles, the Western governments could not go back on what they had said. The missiles were withdrawn, and Greenham Common is now public parkland.
6. Sometimes we win but it takes a generation or…
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6. Sometimes we win but it takes a generation or more
At the time it may feel that it’s going nowhere; that those in power are stuck in a certain mindset and cannot change their thinking. But then a new generation may come along, unencumbered by past thinking, and see that the views of the protesters were just common sense. Think of the huge turnaround in attitudes to gay people over a couple of generations.
Lungu degazetted forest 27?
..and also forest 26?
… and the one in Chipata?
And then claims “climate change”
Maybe Lusaka residents will speak out when all their boreholes dry up! The signs and symptoms of encroaching on recharge zones is already being felt in Makeni, Chalala, Chilenje. Kafue water won’t be enough due to loadshedding. Moreover, Lusaka tap Water makes some of us sick. It has to be boiled or to be piped through a UV light purifier to make it safe for drinking.
The question that still begs answers is why was Forest 27 De-gazetted? In whose interest was the president acting? Why is it that top government and politically exposed persons happen to be the main beneficiaries? With or without Council approval for those constructions, those who have chosen to ignore nature’s laws will live to regret their selfishness! Those structures will be destroyed! Forest 27 saga also reminds…
Forest 27 saga also reminds us of the folly of vesting land in an individual! Bill 10 will make it worse as it suggests to vest even more powers in an individual! If that individual is corrupt, you are in trouble! Other countries have used Land Boards to administer land affairs! It’s should never be the decision of one person to de-Gazette strategic forests!
Suppose, that individual starts smoking mbanji, drinks one to many katatas/kachasu or orgasm anxiety influences ones thinking.
Could Miles be one of the PEP beneficiaries in defiled Forest 27?
Here is the interesting part Lusaka residents with Boreholes: Your underground water will be polluted with Sewer from septics they put right on those recharge points!
The de-Gazetteer was less than transparent on Forest 27! When did they publish the intention to de-Gazette the forest to get approval from all stakeholders? When did they advertise the intention to offer plots to the public? How come only politically exposed persons (PEPs) have benefited? Are they not content with the huge chunks of land they already possess and they want to poison our underground water with their sewer? It is also surprising that WARMA has remained mute over this matter. Can we be refunded our Borehole levies since you are applying double…
Read in between the lines.
Miles is not part of this particular scandal, that is why he in informing the nation that it is Lungu that is at the center of this rot.
Lungu is as rotten as they come. A classless drunk thief.
How I pray this drunkard will be caged one day together with that wh0re daughter of his.
Can we be refunded our Borehole levies since you are applying double standards in your so called bid to protect underground water! Go to the cemetery and appreciate how much land each one of us is ultimately entitled to – Six Feet deep!
‘Ukususha iLungu kwendamo’ It is now we and them. Elite grabbing, sharing and demarcating land for themselves and nothing left for the poor.
Can we be refunded our Borehole levies since you are applying double standards in your so called bid to protect underground water!
PEPs should go to the cemetery and appreciate how much land each one of us is ultimately entitled to – Six Feet deep!
“….Forest 27 was legally de-gazetted by President Edgar Lungu…..”
This is why I hate lungu with s passion.
Ripping and rubbishing issues that some of us hold dear for the benifit of the country and earth……forests and climate
The fraud convict will not even issue a statement on things bothering the country.
Ba J0N4’z Zambia today. Never seen such under a proper leaders K.K, or Levi
Wrong decisions is what has characterized this regime from the time they came into power. Anyway it is us Zambians to blame too. We made a wrong decision by voting for a sick man in Michael Sata, everything that followed was wrong. He became an absentee President. Then came in the current regime, where we even made a more wrong decision by voting for you know who. Scandal after scandal
Lungu has to be the worst president to have ever ruled Zambia.
It can not get worse than this. I have trust in the people of Zambia.
Record debt, record political violence, record corruption, record tribalisim , record breakdown of systems of governance, record political oppression……..
Can it get any worse ?????
These thieving clowns have so much to hide, hence trying to gag the councillors. Be warned the day of reckoning is nigh and all the corrupt thieves shall be called to account! Your days are sure numbered.
In 5 years time these same imbeciles will be wondering why there is no water in boreholes and why they are drilling deeper to reach water.
Sampa please ati “Local Authorities are simply agents of the Ministry of Lands”. Do you know what a council is??? Be careful
A council in Zambia is a legal entity created by an act of parliament and vested with the powers to make decisions as prescribed within the local Government Act and any other Acts of Parliament (e.g. Trading and licensing Act Cap 707 of the Laws of Zambia, Rating (Amendment) Act, and Cap 192 etc. Allocation of Land is not the duty of the Ministry of Lands it is the Councils that are responsible. The Minister will only intervene if a Council contravenes the law e.g. by not following the Procedures. For that matter regarding the councils it is the Ministry of Local Government. The ministry lands
Sampa, you are a Mayor and therefore not conversant with the LAW that…
Cont……
Sampa, you are a Mayor and therefore not conversant with the LAW that governs the operations of Councils in Zambia. You should have consulted the District Commissioner who is your advisor as well as the council advisor on all decisions made on matters that have Legal Implications
No wonder Jean Kapata has allocated herself Land. She cant do that she has to apply through the Local Authority in this case the Council under which the Gazetted Forest is located. It is the same procedure for all Zambians President Lungu inclusive. No one is above the LAW
Everything is chaos in Zambia and yet Lungu claims to have been a lawyer
It is lungu corrupting everything, the only laws that work are the public order acts driven by kapoyongo to shackle opposition
The preak boosts about his education while there is nothing to show for it. What waste.
Interested!
UPND MPs should galvanize and sue. Wait, like their PF counterparts, they are not in office for Zambians but their bellies.