Friday, January 10, 2025

Peter Daka being probed over land

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File: Peter Daka and former Labour Minister Austin Liato exchange notes during a public meeting

MINISTER of Lands, Energy and Water Development Christopher Yaluma says he has begun investigating how former Minister of Science, Technology and Vocational Training Peter Daka and other government officials acquired land belonging to the National Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research (NISIR).

Mr Yaluma confirmed this in an interview on Saturday.

He said he has started studying files pertaining to the land in question and commended the Mail for reporting the story.

Last week the Mail reported that Mr Daka obtained a two- hectare piece of land he has had interest in for over 20 years.

He got plot No. L/1804/M in Ibex Hill that belonged to NISIR, two months before the September 20 presidential, parliamentary and local government elections.

According to documents obtained from the Ministry of Lands, Mr Daka was given a state lease for a 99-year period from 1st July on July 18th 2011 and has been issued with certificate of title No.124984.

When queried over the plot, Mr Daka only produced papers that proved he has had interest in the said piece of land since 1988 when he was purchasing manager at National Milling Company.

Mr Daka, who owned a plot next to one he recently acquired, then wrote a letter to the Commissioner of Lands requesting him to consider joining plot number 1805M and plot 1804 into one plot.

In his letter, the former minister explained that his plot No. 1805M had no water and hindered development.

He also went on to say that plot 1804/M had water and he could not abandon his piece of land because President Kaunda then kept “ reminding us to go back to the land, this is what I intend to do. But what can one do without water? How can I go back to the land where there is no water?”

However, NISIR executive director Francis Tembo said the land in question was part of the institution’s land utilisation plan, which came about as a result of the Ministry of Lands’ intention to re-enter plot 638/M.

Professor Tembo said the NISIR board through the directive of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Vocational Training developed a land utilisation plan, which included land offer to all NISIR staff, government officials at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Vocational Training, and government departments that included Chongwe council.

However, the Mail investigations have established that the Ministry of Science, Technology and Vocational Training wrote to Ministry of Lands requesting them to complete plot allocation formalities.
Mr Daka was in charge of the ministry at the time.

“The Ministry of Lands just received a list of the beneficiaries from Ministry of Science, Technology and Vocational Training asking them to complete all the formalities,” a source said.

[Zambia Daily Mail]

29 COMMENTS

    • ba sa you have issues with our govt, its a pity our tonga tribal party only has the tonga vote,how can we produce a president with only southern province on our side, we need to improve ourselves 1st otherwise the bemba,s we rule us forever

    • badala put up because PF is here for another 3 terms, we cannot depend on the tonga vote alone to give us the presidency, stick to the tribal foolishness and we shall be stuck in the stone age

  1. please do sort this out, if any illegal doings are found, please deal with them hand them stiff jail terms as a deterent to fature leaders. These mmd guys thought our country was a branch of MMD LTD. We have had these kind of problems through out the time mmd was in power..AS for the Hon Bob Sichunga,s speech at Zambia house please go to ******** which has the hon ministers speech on video in full

  2. the hunt is on!
    many people have been convinced that we should put up with rubbish for next 5 years, if all we were was voters we would do so. but unfortunately we countrymen and women and there we shall occupy very soon

    • Please don’t bring the seventh day adventist church is disrepute. Thats is abominable. Can you find another name you can blogger with.

  3. Simply put he was interested in the land for a long time and when the opportunity came he allocated the land to himself. He must be brought to book so that others learn a lesson.

    Thank you.

  4. What about the land in Ibex Hill that William Banda gave to MMD cadres? It should also be re-possessed – it is in a place called Kalale, just 1km from the new US embassy complex. It belongs to Zambian, and is already on title, yet MMD thugs grabbed it illegally from the righful owners.

  5. Peter Daka, instead of support the National Institute for Scientific Research, he did what I may call asset stripping. Those guys had no interest to support research, imagine all he was thinking was what he get from the Institution. Let all the land be grabbed and pople must be procesuced. There is no minister who has come and changed things in NISR to support like funding instead they have been eying what to take,. that is sad. Shame on Peter Daka. Let him be prosecuted. It is insane to request to join the a plot with what belongs to another person or instutiton. Suppose it was John who owned the plot in question, was he going to ask to evict him so that he can have the plot??? that is ABUSE OF OFFICE

  6. Wow such beeg tummies when others are wallowing in excruciating poverty. A big tummy in africa is a prestige symbol.

  7. PRESIDENT SATA PLEASE GET US THIS LAND AND LOOK AT THE ZAMBIANS IN DIASPORA WE APPLIED FOR LAND AND HAVE NOTHING.SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY STAFF ARE ALL SELFISH WHAT ABOUT WE WHO DON’T WORK THERE. 

  8. i hope that kama illiterate prostitute from Scotland called MUSHO something will not post a silly comment like two hectares is nothing compared to what i own here because two hectares of land is beeg

  9. @16 Kaluba, I agree with you. We applied for land through the embassies and still not heard anything. I hope our details were not just being used to make numbers for mmd voters.

  10. This is another reason why things are going wrong in this country. When was the minister given powers to carry out investigations. They are wings within the government machinery tasked to carry out investigations. Mr. Minister do not usurp the powers of these wings. I am sure your job description does not include investigating illegal land allocations. You can only report these illegalities to relevant authorities. Vice President you are failing in guiding your cabinet. That is why you have Minister of Mines wanting to discuss issues with illegal miners thereby interfering with the work of the police. Honourable VP start working and move the cabinet to work. Retirees are not yet paid, farmers are not yet paid

  11. if the minister is serious about this let him investigate the lusaka city council mayor also. dont forget the Lilayi land scam where LCC COUNILLORS shared more than 100 plots amongest themselves without proper procedure early this year. The mayor’s office alone got 10 plots and Chisenga is back as mayor again and nobody is talking about it.The land allocation scams are many and investigations shouldnt be selectively.

  12. THEY ARE AT IT AGAIN. THE PROPAGANDA AND RHETORIC AIMED AT DEMONISING THE PAST LEADERSHIP LIKE SMALL CHILDREN SPEAKING ILL OF OTHER PEOPLE.I HOPE AND PRAY THAT THIS CULTURE DOES NOT BECOME THE ORDER OF THE DAY.WE NEED TO HEAR OF DEVELOPMENTAL PLANS AND NOT RHETORIC.START A NEW SONG.YOU MAY SING ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING IN THIS OR THAT PART OF THE COUNTRY. IT WILL MAKE GOOD READING. STOP GOING AFTER OTHER PEOPLE AND THEIR INTERESTS.

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