BY OLIVER SAMBOKO
The computer system at the Ministry of Land service Centre in Lusaka has crushed leaving many clients stranded and failing to access services at the government institution.
A check by the daily Nation, at Mulungushi house found many people, some s far as Mongu in Western province been returned and advised to visit the Centre on Monday when the system will be operational.
A check also found a ‘NO SYSTEM’ notice placed on the entrance to the customer service Centre that also caters for Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA).
And some affected people spoken to called on Government through the Ministry of Land to decentralize the administration of land to allow efficiency by way of creating offices at district level. James Tembo said while it’s appreciated that local Authorities in Districts are agents of the Ministry of land in land matters, citizens are forced to travel to Lusaka to process their land because the process through local authorities is cumbersome and slow.
He said the decentralization will not only allow citizen to easy access to services but also will allow the Ministry of land an opportunity to have firsthand information on how land was been administered and utilized.
Mr Tembo said because of the current situation where the Ministry is absent at the district level, some local authorities officers have been abusing the land agency given to councils by corruptly allocating land themselves and relatives. Another citizen, Mary Sitali called on the Central government to revoke the land agency from some local councils aimed at bringing sanity in the administration of land.
She said some local Authorities like the Chirundu district council has failed the residents as the locals are not been helped to process the land through the council.
