Wed, 28 Jun 2017 13:31:36 +0000
BY BENNIE MUNDANDO
OUR laws are being flouted with impunity by foreign nationals who think they can set up businesses anyhow as long as they bribe a few individuals in our local authorities but we will not sit down and watch them as we are now asking the President to intervene, the Evangelical Youth Alliance (EYA) has said.
Residential areas have come under threat in Lusaka as some investors are setting up businesses without following laid down procedures while the council is supporting such illegalities with claims that some areas have been designated as mixed development zones which can be developed both for residential and commercial purposes.
In Kalundu, residents are up in arms with Shumeite Investments Limited which is constructing a four-storey mall with reckless disregard of laid down procedure without any environmental assessment report from ZEMA while all its plans are allegedly in Chinese.
The National Council for Construction (NCC) has also halted the construction of a five-storey building on Plot 25084, off Katima Mulilo Road, in Olympia Park, and has threatened to sue the investor if he fails to produce relevant documents and rectify the anomalies with the council.
Speaking to the Daily Nation yesterday, EYA executive director Moses Lungu said the alliance was appalled with the blatant disregard of Zambian laws by foreign investors and the sheer lack of professionalism by some officials in local authorities, adding that time to take decisive action was now to halt the rot.
Rev. Lungu said the rate at which foreigners were allowed to set up businesses without regard to environmental necessities was worrying and that due to inefficiencies that certain institutions had shown on the need to protect the interest of Zambians, EYA will be writing to President Lungu to air its misgivings about what was happening in the country and provide probable solutions to the problem.
He said corruption in some Government institutions was becoming rampant and that decisive action needed to be taken.
“We are also concerned with the continuous cases of alleged corruption in the manner foreigners are acquiring land and setting up businesses anywhere. As things stand, foreigners think they can dangle carrots on anyone and get away with their illegal activities in the name of investment but we will not sit down and watch the situation worsening. “We have resolved that we need to write to the President to air our grievances of what some people entrusted with public responsibility are doing.
We cannot have a situation where every foreigner thinks corruption is the order of the day. Time to clean our systems is now and as we presented our petition to the President, we will also propose solutions to the problem,” Rev. Lungu said.
