President Edgar Lungu has authorised the degazetting of part of the Ichimpe forest reserve in Kalulushi on the Copperbelt to allow over 300 people to settle.
Community Development Minister Kampamba Mulenga who is also Kalulushi Member of Parliament disclosed that the residents had written to President Lungu requesting to legalize the area.
Ms Mulenga said President Lungu has since conceded to the residents requests to legalize their stay in the forest.
Mrs Mulenga told the residents who are mostly farmers at a meeting in Donovan area of Ichimpe, that the ministry of lands will soon start processing and demarcating plots in the forest reserve.
And the representative of the residents Patson Kalamata urged government to open up feeder roads in the Ichimpe forests.
Mr Kalamata said the roads in Ichimpe have remained deplorable despite the area being a vibrant farming block.
He also commended President Lungu for degazetting the forest and ensuring that the 300 farmers have pieces of land for farming.
Great responsible decision arrived at after thorough research and advice from specialists. Now we will wait for the keyboard specialists from diaspora to tell us that it is a wrong decision and to accuse us of corruption etc. They have become so predictable and boring
Trouble is Edgar Lungu will never ask why the forest was protected in the first place. It was mainly to protect vital watersheds that fed rivers that people downstream depended on.
After plundering forest reserve 27 in Lusaka and tasila lungu claiming and fencing of a forest , lungu is trying to show that plundering and depleting forests is Normal…..
Zambia has plenty land , why not resettle them in an area that is not a forest reserve ????
This is good news, people are yearning for land. However, as they’re given letters of offer there must be a condition that they can’t sell this land until after a period of 14 or more years. It’s annoying that some people that receive such land from Govt quickly sell and move to live as squatters in other settlements. The local leadership must take note of such characters so that they face the Law. I also urge Kampamba Mulenga and Jean Kapata to move to Kitwe’s Mwekera and Luanshya’s Maposa, Baluba and Mipundu settlements. Since 2015 when the President degazetted that land the program to survey and issue settlers with title deeds has stalled because of the illegal activities if Chishimba Kambwili. Prevail on Mwakalombe to send govt surveyors because those crooks that were engaged by…
Those crooks that were engaged by Kambwili will be killed if they go back. People celebrated when the President made that pronouncement. 5 years is too long a period to leave things unattended to. Development isn’t about building skyscrapers or fancy buildings. People require basic needs. Legal leasehold will enable them access financing for their projects. Why should trucks get from Kitwe to Mkushi to buy tomatoes when we have land lying idle because of the activities of criminal politicians like Kambwili? He’s no longer an MP so don’t wait for the President to tell you what to do. Mwakalombe please wake up!
This is very good news. They must also be given a condition that they can’t sell that land until after a certain period. It’s annoying to see that some of the beneficiaries of such land quickly sell and go to lie as squatters in other areas. Let’s not allow that. I also urge the Minister ti investigate what happened to the land in Mwekera, Baluba, Misaka, Maposa and Mipundu. Since the President made the pronouncement to degazette that land in 2015 things have stalled. People must be held accountable for not taking Presidential pronouncements seriously. Let’s stop this habit of leaving things unattended for long. That slows down development
Thanks our president for looking into this matter and allowing settlement
PF politicians’ names will appear prominently on the list let’s wait & see
That’s the problem of growing up and spending most of ones life in crowded high density areas or cities for the eyes learn to appreciate the tons and tons of concrete the environment provides compared to one who is raised surrounded by what nature provides for such a person has a bonding that is not easy to describe with nature! How can Lungu appreciate or understand why it was left as it were when Lungu thinks he is all knowing and in the current times political expediency is all that matters.
This man Lungu has no clue how to run the country.
He thinks those before him, (that left mukula trees alone, protected gazetted forests, resisted from mining Lower Zambezi, never relocated wildlife, and never ever built mansions in Swaziland) were not clever.
Lungu, like Trump, thinks he is a genius.
Lungu, like Trump, will get kicked out.
Lungu, unlike Trump, will end up caged up.
Vote wisely.