Dear Editor,
THE lead story in your November 29, 2021 edition was “Kitwe plots scandal exposed.” I call the story lead because of the big size of the font of the headline.
The story made sad reading for two reasons. Firstly, the justification by her worship the mayor of Kitwe, Ms Mpasa Mwaya was, at best, misplaced and at worst, attempted to down play the gravity of the issue and taking the residents of Kitwe as gullible citizens.
Most of us familiar with the land administration in the City of Kitwe know that formal application for land acquisition began to “die” under the MMD administration.
The PF administration simply put the death nail to the formal land application process. This was because, besides the markets and bus stations, land was the easily accessible asset for speculative investment by cadres.
And the PF cadres really grabbed it at the expense of the law and equitable access by all Zambians.
So, it is awkward for the mayor to justify the list as normal application for plots. The truth of the matter is that the list is a preferential list of people in or now connected to power and therefore entitled to receive special attention.
The cadres keep reminding us, “it is now time for UPND to eat.”
Secondly, the UPND cadres must provide effective followership to the rest of the nation. President Hakainde Hichilema has rallied senior government leaders and managers to servanthood leadership.
But if the cadres within his own party do not heed the drum beat, they are lowering his moral statue in the eyes of the public. It will create a perception that President Hichilema is giving tacit support to his cadres while calling the rest to high moral standards.
Cadres should know that self-aggrandisement often starts small and has no end. Today, the demand is a 20 by 15 plot, tomorrow it is five hectares, by 2025, with the uncertainty of winning the 2026 elections, demand will be 10, 000 hectares per cadre.
MIKE CHUNGU.
