Senior official accused in Ndola land wrangles

Tue, 20 Jun 2017 11:44:26 +0000

By NATION REPORTER

NEARLY 29 plots supposedly demarcated and allocated to PF cadres, have been relocated to a Chinese developer, raising anger and uproar among PF members on Copperbelt Province.

Mr Joseph Chisala and Kingsley Mutale Chumbu alleged that a senior government official instructed Ndola Mayor Amon Chisenga to remove 28 PF cadres from a 12-acre piece of land in Dola Hill and give it to the Chinese, which led to the scuffles among PF cadres at the Ndola Civic Centre last week.

But when contacted for a comment, the named official rubbished the accusations saying he had no time to discuss unwarranted and unfounded allegations as his energy was directed towards discussing development and not petty issues.

Mr Chisala alleged that the senior official called a caucus meeting and brought together Mr. Chisenga, Ndola district Commissioner George Chisulo, Town clerk Enerst Sumani and a senior management official only identified as a Ms. Tembo from the Ndola city council to sell his idea.

Following the alleged clandestine meeting, a new plan which bore the Chinese firm’s name, Frontier Management Services Limited, was allegedly drawn by a Ms. Idah on May 15, 2017, surveyed by Wabei Wamunyima and checked by Lombe Mwakanandi but that the fake site plan was out-rightly rejected by a full council meeting which was held on May 24, 2017.

“One can even go through records at the Ndola council, the plan is minuted SC/12/11/16 to ascertain that this land is ours. Under minute EID/86/12/16, an application was made to have the area serviced at the cost of K1.5 million was approved and works were done.

“To our surprise, on the same demarcated land, another site plan allegedly for Chinese nationals was pushed during the full council meeting on May 24, 2017. We know that there was a meeting in which Mr. Lusambo called these officials to remove the cadres from that land. A government senior official offered to be given a month in which he would look for the Chinese who would put up highrise flats,” one of the sources said. Meanwhile, one of the Dola Hill tenants Astridah Mulombwa, who has a botanical garden in the area, narrated how she was allegedly approached by the official in a company of a horde of Chinese nationals three weeks ago and was asked to sell the land to the Chinese nationals but she refused.   She said a week after her encounter with him and his Chinese friends, another man went to her land and dumped building materials saying he had bought the land and was commencing construction works. She said that when she sought help from Mr. Chisenga, she was told that council records showed that she was not the owner of the land but someone else.  “He came here in a ministerial vehicle to ask me to sell the plot to the Chinese but I refused. A week later, someone brought building material into my land saying he was commencing construction works because he had bought it. “I own this piece of land and have been nurturing flowers and trees for 10 years which I sell for income. I applied to the forestry department which awarded me a go ahead to use the space for my activities,” Ms. Mulombwa said.