Tue, 12 Dec 2017 09:40:58 +0000
By Kalobwe Bwalya
SUSPECTED Patriotic Front cadres in Lusaka have allegedly grabbed land behind Emmasdale Police station, a move which has angered Water Development, Sanitation and Environment Minister Lloyd Kaziya.
Mr Kaziya has since warned cadres to refrain from encroaching on land in police camps, saying anyone found wanting would be arrested without hesitation.
But Lusaka deputy mayor Chilando Chitangala said the plots were approved during a full council meeting but that the council had since cancelled the plots following concerns from the public.
And Mr Kaziya, who is Matero Member of Parliament, has since ordered the cadres to stop any kind of construction and sharing of plots because their action was illegal to acquire plots in a police camp as it was a security installation.
The minister wondered how people would be allocated plots in the police camp, saying land in such premises, if any, was reserved for other important purposes. In interview with the Daily Nation, Mr Kaziya said that he would not allow illegal activities to continue in his constituency as the situation was in Emmasdale Township.
Mr Kaziya also warned that he would not condone construction of illegal structures or expansion of premises onto road reserves without proper clearance and appealed for discipline in constituency.
He said it was wrong for people to construct houses in police camps and that the structures would up being demolished with or without papers.
Mr Kaziya advised people who wanted to extend their property onto the road reserves to first get clearance from the Road Development Agency under whom the roads fall.
The minister appealed for order in the manner people
obtained plots.
“It is sad that there is no space for the expansion of drainages as well as where to put up service cables because as all the land had been taken,” the minister said. Meanwhile Mr Kaziya said he had not stopped pursuing the issue of gates illegally constructed on public roads in Emmasdale Township. He said he was still consulting the Attorney General on the matter and would ensure the law was enforced.
