Justice at last?

Fri, 17 Mar 2017 10:57:21 +0000

WE ARE delighted to learn that justice may at last prevail in the case of the eight applicants of land in Roma township in Lusaka whose plots were confiscated by unscrupulous officers in the Ministry of Lands and sold to underserving clients in a corruption scam that has shocked many Zambians.

The good news is that the Commissioner of Lands is reported to be in the process of revisiting the issue with a view to correcting the injustice hanging over the case. The Ministry of Lands must therefore be bold enough to scrap the fake title deeds given to those who bought the plots long after they were genuinely and legally offered to the first applicants.

The Daily Nation was the first to unearth this scam and has followed the twists and turns of this saga not because we have a personal agenda but because we abhor injustice and the impunity with which some civil servants are taking advantage of citizens by stealing from them because they are either ignorant of the procedures or have no spine to challenge the thieves.

The issue of the eight applicants for land in Roma was a classic example of how our hitherto impeccable civil service has been invaded by a cabal of corrupt individuals who connive to abuse the land acquisition process through the use of falsified technological schemes that earn the thieves huge sums of money which they use to build mansions for rent and live extravagant lifestyles way beyond their means.

Perhaps the saddest part of this whole episode is the revelation that this massive fraud where plot numbers and names are changed, new site plans and official stamps are generated and  scanned on the documents to cheat the system has its roots in the land registry at the Ministry of Lands.

We do not understand why this illegality cannot be uprooted from the source.

We hope that the dramatic change of heart where the Commissioner Lands has reversed his own decision to cancel the title deeds for the eight plots which were effectively stolen and sold to the highest bidders, is the first official step towards unmasking the land sharks in the ministry who are giving the Government a bad name.

There is no way the title deeds can be reversed without first investigating what happened and who was involved. It is our view that the people behind this scam are known and there is nothing to stop senior officials in the ministry from taking stern action against the culprits.

Corruption thrives in systems and bureaucracies where perpetrators of illegalities are allowed to get away with murder under the pretext that they broke no law.

These are excuses that promote wrongdoing and give the schemers the false belief that they are untouchable. While the ministry, under pressure, has decided to correct the monumental error they wanted to make, we call on the Anti-Corruption Commission to be pro-active and follow up some of these issues, after all the case has been reported to them.

Until investigative wings of the State can be seen to fight corruption, land grabbing and all other evils that beset our society, ordinary citizens will always feel unprotected, exposed and sitting ducks of the new Mafia-type criminal organizations emerging in our country.

Nothing can be more demoralising than discovering that the public officer you entrusted with your secrets is a member of a ruthless gang that sells such information to outsiders or uses it to steal from you.

That is why we are encouraged that the Commissioner of Lands has in the case of the eight Roma plot applicants decided to do the right thing. Their plots were stolen by people they trusted. It is only fair that their land is returned to them.

Anything else is injustice of the worst order.