Lusaka Mayor Daniel Chisenga and Acting Town Clerk Bornwell Lwanga said the allocations of land to councilors are a normal trend at the council.
Mr. Lwanga said the council has a record of members of the public that have benefited from such land allocations.
Mr Lwanga and the mayor said this in response to a query from ZNBC news.
And The Ministry of Local Government has instituted investigations into the alleged irregular allocation of land by the Lusaka City Council.
Local Government Deputy Minister Moses Muteteka said his ministry is concerned by reports that council staff awarded themselves plots at the Lilayi Housing Unit.
Mr Mutetka was speaking with ZNBC News in Lusaka on Saturday.
He says the report will be submitted to police once investigations are completed.
Minutes of the special council meeting of December 30, 2010, have revealed that the Patriotic Front led Lusaka City is alleged to have allocated itself over 90-plots against eleven offered to the public at the Lilayi Housing Development Project.
The housing project has about one hundred and two residential plots, each valued at 40 Million Kwacha.
The piece of land measures approximately 6.3 hectors and follows the successful swapping of land between the council and Lilayi Housing Development.
According to minutes of the special council meeting of December 30, 2010, the office of the Mayor has been given 10-plots while the office of the Town Clerk has been allocated five plots.
Councilors have allocated themselves 45-plots while 16-others have gone to members of staff at the local authority.
The report by the council’s Acting Director of Legal Services on the allocation of plots at the housing project also indicates that 5-plots have been offered to the office of the Deputy Mayor.
It has been agreed according to the minutes that provisional offer letters be issued pending a formal decision by the Plans, Work and Development Committee.
ZNBC
Iwe chi Mayor is that your mother’s land you allocated, u are finished. we ve never heard anything of that nature in the past. I mean the whole land to yourselves and members of the Staff??? No no no PF controlled councils are full of illigallity. Its shameful that this is happening at a time when the government has increased councillors’ allowances.
Let police investigate the case from the beginning. Your ministry should not get involved with any investigations. The information provided by ZNBC and confirmation by the town clerk is sufficient to warrant the police or even DEC to move in.
It is no secret that PF led councils are the worst run councils in the nation. It should be a cause of worry to Zambians if the Chipata municipal council is better run than the PF controlled Lusaka City Council. Even the Solwezi municipal council has got plans laid out which include building roads whereas the Chingola council controlled by PF is failing to work on the roads.
Is this the reason why PF has not released their report on their councils which they promised would be released a week after their announcement. This sort of greed is worrying more especially coming from a party that plans to rule Zambia in 2011 and beyond.
Mayor says it has been the trend. The Question is it a correct trend? if not why follow what is wrong?? Surely no need for investigations as both the Mayor and the TC have confirmed the allocation. Fire them now!!!!!!!
#4, no lock them up now!!!
arrest these chaps..there’s no way you can get 10 plots at the expense of millions of Zambians without land..PF councilors be honest for once..
Problem is if you give an african “leader” an inch they’ll give themselves a whole yard.Why is abuse of one’s position to enrich themselves at public expense okay? Allocations to the public is okay but that of councill members is corruption as they’ll get the juiciest land and no independent overseers to make the process abuse free.
looks like they are all bembas again..!!eish..my foot !
This clearly shows wat type of councils we shud xpect if PF formed the next Goverment with GBM or Willy Nsanda as Minister.
These guys have shot themselves in the foot. HH, here is. The vote for you mwanaukwesu.
The story is not well written. Lwanga said the allocations of land to councilors are a normal trend at the council. Is that enough? He obviously must have expanded on this vague statement.
Mr Mayor call it a ‘trend at the council’, not a NORMAL trend. A lot of people would not not have found anything wromg with it if it was normal.
And people still beleive that Sata is a disciplinarian or an achiever! Or is this a way of raisng campaign money for PF, that is why he is quiet?
On “Lusaka Mayor Daniel Chisenga and Acting Town Clerk Bornwell Lwanga said the allocations of land to councilors are a normal trend at the council” – Are they telling us that corruption is a normal trend at that council?.
These chaps should be fired and arrested for converting public property for their own gain. Why did they not advertise those plots for members of the public to apply, they could equally have applied as members of the public rather than sitting in some room and sharing among themselves.
The story is the same in all councils, they think they have a right to give themselves land at the expense of other citizens. Why can’t the govt do an audit if they are genuine in trying to get rid of this rot? I suspect they are scared of whatit will reveal – MMD involvement.
What do you expect when abuse of office is no longer an offence. DEC, POLICE and ACC can investigate this case but it will not go anywhere. Abuse of office is legal in zambia.
RB kuyabele, VIVA SATA……PA BWATO.
This what is expected of PF. They look abuse and take no action. We will hear nothing from the PF leadership. They are a congrigation of tribalists and crooked bussiness men. We have some of you bloggers crying about the bad state of roads on the CB, why dont the councilers who are mostly PF bring up the issue ? because PF is hopless and development is not on their agenda.
This is what i would expect from PF kaponyas. I thank God PF will never rule Zambia
Thats is madnes how you say its normal
It luks like the reporter hasn’t done his job properly. Like sum bloggers point out can u give us details? Is what the mayor said only worth 3 sentences? May be we need a press release from the civiic centre
I fail to understand why Africans fail to rule themselves, this surely is abuse of power!
Lusaka Mayor Daniel Chisenga and Acting Town Clerk Bornwell Lwanga said the allocations of land to councilors are a normal trend at the council. This is not normal, but abnormal? These guys should be fired!
Chief Bootlicker, we give you power and moral authority to discipline these chaps! It’s unacceptable that they should even think about getting “reserved” plot rather than declaring interest and not being the interviewers when allocating the plots. In fact, they are behaving like RB- when he is addressing a public meeting (even where there are public civil servants) and raising the MMD slogan! That’s must be stopped forthwith!