Thu, 11 Jan 2018 07:35:11 +0000
By BENNIE MUNDANDO
GOVERNMENT says it has no option but to revoke the title deed given to an individual who bought the whole island on Lake Tanganyika, a move that could displace 1000 people.
Villagers on Lake Tanganyika Island were last year shocked to learn that the whole island had been sold and they were now illegal occupants.
Efforts by Government to build a school which the PF promised voters in last year’s campaigns were also rebuffed as the owner allegedly told them that it was overstepping its boundaries as the land in question was in private hands.
The uncompromising “owner” of the island advised Government not to tamper with his land by putting up a Government school as doing would be wasting its time and resources because he was going to relocate all the inhabitants of the island to the mainland.
But speaking to the Daily Nation yesterday, Mr. Sikazwe said the Ministry of Lands had been alerted about the development on Lake Tanganyika and that it was investigating the matter to ascertain how an individual bought the whole island and even got a title deed.
“We have no other choice but to revoke the title deed. All of us only came to learn about it when we went there to build a school. During the campaigns, we promised those people that since the population is growing and needed a school and a clinic, Government would ensure that such facilities are built on the island. For me as area MP, I sourced for funds for the construction of the school.
“The procurement process was done but when the council went there to handover the site to the contractor to commence construction works, that is when someone produced title deeds indicating that the whole island had been bought by an individual,” Mr. Sikazwe said.
He said as a result of the development, Government took the school to another area but that the people petitioned Government, forcing him to write to the Ministry of Lands which indicated that it would investigate the matter.
“I told the people there that there was nothing I could do. Two weeks letter, the people petitioned the DC over the ownership of the island and I immediately wrote to the Ministry of Lands and the commissioner.
“They responded that they needed to investigate the matter because it was not easy for someone to get a title to an island where we have more than 1000 people,” he explained.
He wondered where the person purported to have bought the island planned to take such a huge number of people who had lived there for ages.
“Where do you take all those people? He is saying he will relocate them to the mainland but those people have stayed there for years and that is where their life is. To make matters worse, that place is a polling station.
“I have since written to President Edgar Lungu for guidance on how we go about it because even if the Ministry of Lands has indicated that they will have to revoke the title, it can only be done through the President,” he said.
