By GIDEON NYENDWA
FORMER first lady Esther Lungu has demanded back her property comprising 15 flats in New Kasama that were taken over by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) and asked the officers to get off her property.
The former first lady’s lawyers Makebi Zulu Advocates in a letter addressed to the DEC said their client had instructed them to inform DEC that the property in issue was hers and their officers had trespassed on the said property and their continued stay on it constituted continuing trespass.
Mr Zulu said their client advised that on July 1, 2022 DEC circulated on their Facebook page a story to the effect that their office had taken over 15 abandoned flats in New Kasama State Lodge area.
He said this was followed by a statement from DEC public relations officer Mathias Kamanga to effect that DEC officers had been monitoring the place for some time and established that there was no one occupying the place and the DEC officers forced their way into the said property.
Mr Zulu said if DEC officers had been diligent enough to conduct an elementary search at the Ministry of Lands, they would have concluded that their client owns the property instead of embarking on a media stint which in their view was intended to impute wrongdoing on the part of the client in relation with the said property, especially that they stated that they had taken over a property that was believed to have been abandoned and drew a conclusion that “whoever the owner is may be running away from something.”
He indicated that their client informed them that she acquired the said property in about 2015 and the said properties had been there from the said time.
Mr Zulu said the property sat on four titles and the same were in her name and that the said titles were attached for their ease of reference.
He said it was inappropriate for DEC to infringe on their client’s right to property solely based on their inability to conduct investigations professionally.
But Mr Kamanga said that there was nothing sinister in the manner DEC conducted the process of possessing the flats.
He said they did not break any law neither did they use malice to ensure that the owner of the houses was found.
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