DEAL WITH INDIVIDUALS AT OWN PERIL, WARNS TOWN CLERK

By ROGERS KALERO
IT is disappointing that despite several advice and warnings, members of the public have continued to prefer dealing with individuals in land allocation and using short-cuts which mostly backfire with some people being swindled out of huge amounts of money,” the Kitwe City Council (KCC) has said.
Kitwe Town Clerk Mbulo Seke said, to avoid being swindled, members of the public must first demand Title and Letter of offer from the Ministry of Lands who were the principle in land allocation.
Mr Seke said members of the public must not deal with individuals in land allocation, but must follow the procedure to avoid being swindled by some land agents popularly known as ‘Ba Pungwa’.
“It is sad that illegal land allocation is being perpetrated by some individuals known as agents and other unscrupulous people, but my advice is that to avoid being swindled, members of the public must follow the procedure to avoid being swindled by some land agents.
“Further, to avoid being swindled, members of the public must first demand Title and Letter of offer from the Ministry of Lands who were the principle in land allocation,” Mr Seke said.
Mr Seke said it was sad that some unscrupulous people involved in illegal allocation of land were illegally allocating plots in the Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) Way-leave .
In the recent past, the local authority in Kitwe has been grappling with the issue of illegal sale of land with some councillors and political party cadres being implicated in the vice .
A UPND Parklands ward councilor, Felix Malasha and some Nkana constituency officials were last week implicated in the illegal allocation of land between Mindolo Secondary School and Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation (MEF).
But, Mr Malasha denied being involved in the illegal allocation of land, saying it was a fake story being fabricated by his enemies, but could not elaborate who his enemies were.
The latest incident was a list of names of UPND cadres which included a minister which was submitted for allocation of plots in Kafue Park area of Kitwe by the Kitwe City Council (KCC).
According to the list of names which had gone viral and obtained by the Daily Nation , it was recommended that, the change of recommendation be approved and be recommended to Ministry of Lands for title.