Fri, 27 Jan 2017 09:36:43 +0000
… Andrew Kamanga recieves K305 000 for his Chamba Valley
land but refuses to surrender it to Millennium Challenge Account
A MEGA drainage project in Lusaka funded by the American government and meant to end floods and ease the lives of thousands in the City’s many Townships is being held up by Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) president Andrew Kamanga.
Although Mr Kamanga has been paid K296,469 in compensation, he has refused to hand over the piece of land to the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) thereby blocking the project which has been fully funded by the American Government.
The MCA grant will be withdrawn by the year 2018 if not utilised for its intended purpose.
The MCA has claimed in court that Mr Kamanga has been fully paid the purchase price of the land he offered to the institution but the FAZ president has refused to vacate the land and was constantly raising unnecessary issues and claims to delay the project.
The MCA has since dragged Mr Kamanga to the High Court stating that it needed the piece of land to build a water reservoir and borehole complex to supply water to several Lusaka compounds without running water and flushing toilets.
The FAZ president was paid the agreed purchase price of K296,469.11 for the 4,900 square metres of land by MCA
Pelekelo Chipango, the environmental and social performance director at MCA, has told the Lusaka High Court that the full purchase price was paid to Mr Kamanga and in addition, a piece of land guaranteed by the Ministry of Lands was allocated to Mr Kamanga in the preferred Mass Media Complex area.
“That I verily believe that in pursuance of the said provisions all the terms of the contract have been fulfilled as the plaintiff has paid the full purchase price and the Ministry of Lands has allocated the defendant land in Mass Media which he has accepted.
“That in the premises, the plaintiff being entitled to vacant possession of the property upon execution of the contract of sale did not require any further permission from the defendant to commence construction works,” he said.
The matter came up for continued hearing in chambers yesterday before High Court Judge Florence Lengalenga.
But Mr Chipango has argued that MCA was entitled to the piece of land as it had already paid Mr Kamanga in full and has the liberty to deal with it as it pleased.
He told the court that Mr Kamanga had unreasonably refused to accept alternative pieces of land offered to him apart from the Mass Media complex which he acknowledged to have received from the Commissioner of Lands.
Mr Chipango said as a result of the conduct of Mr Kamanga, the Ministry of Lands was in the process of compulsory acquiring Mr Kamanga’s land so as to facilitate smooth operation of the Government project.
The land was specifically secured for the construction of a water reservoir and commercial boreholes to service Kwamwena and surrounding areas with piped water, which was part of the Lusaka Water Supply, Sanitation and Drainage Project (LWSSDP) undertaken jointly between the Millennium Challenge Account and the Government of the Republic of Zambia.
And MCA have refuted claims that they had offered K2 million for the land in question and that there was never a valuation report to that effect except for the agreed K305,000 which came from Mr Kamanga’s own valuation report.
Meanwhile, Mr Kamanga has applied for the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Lands to be joined to the court proceedings as they may not only be interested parties but that the decision of the court in the matter may affect them.
Ms Justice Lengalenga has reserved ruling in the matter.
