By ROGERS KALERO
COUNCILLORS and Patriotic Front (PF) cadres involved in illegal allocation of land must be ready to pay back the money they got from people whose plots will be cancelled, PF Chairman for mobilisation Richard Musukwa has warned.
Mr Musukwa said the PF will not shield councillors and members involved in illegal land allocation because they were damaging the image of the party.
On Friday, some councillors in Kitwe were unsettled when Local Government Permanent Secretary, Ed Chomba, said all plots which were allocated within 250 metres from the Presidential Lodge were null and avoid.
The councillors, who had created more than 120 plots in the area, said it was not good to cancel plots as the decision could affect the party’s performance in next year’s elections.
But Mr Musukwa said illegal allocation of plots had no blessings of the party and so councillors should not think that because of next year’s elections, it would be entertained.
Mr Musukwa, who is Mines Minister and Chililabombwe MP, said cadres who got money from some residents and illegally allocated them plots should be ready to pay back the money.
“It is not the party which sent them to go on rampage and engage in illegal allocation of land. Now, it is time for them to taste ttheir own medicine. They have to be ready to pay back the money they got from the residents.
“There is nothing like, no, we are going towards elections. In fact, people are complaining that PF has allowed cadres to share land with impunity, hence my decision to come out like this. We don’t entertain illegality,” Mr Musukwa said.
He warned cadres against using the name of the party to engage in criminal activities, saying the party leadership would deal firmly with such cadres.
Meanwhile, investigations by the Daily Nation have revealed that a division has rocked Kitwe City Council councillors over the illegal plots near the Presidential Lodge.
The division had emerged because some councillors have accused a clique among them as having masterminded the illegal allocation, hence denting the image of all of them.
One councillor told the Daily Nation that some of his counterparts were unsettled by the tour of Bishop Chomba at the Presidential Lodge because they had created illegal plots and made money out of the scheme.
