NOEL IYOMBWA writes
@sunzambian
GOVERNMENT must quickly regulate the acquisition of land by foreigners and the high prices of acquiring land in Zambia because it has become inaccessible for most citizens, the Zambia Land Alliance (ZLA) has said.
ZLA executive director, Patrick Musole, said the rate at which poor Zambians were being displaced from land they had occupied for years was worrying.
Mr Musole said that some foreigners were going to traditional leaders and offering them huge sums of money to buy land.
He noted that traditional leaders were not consulting their subjects whenever they were selling land to foreigners.
Mr Musole said as a result of this people end up being displaced from land they have been occupying for a long time.
“Government need to regulate the issuing of land because what has been happing is that these foreigners they have been going to traditional leaders with money and the do not consult the people at the end of the day the people are told to move.
“We not saying that foreigners should not be given land but the process should be followed,”he said.
Mr Musole suggested that Government should ensure that the right process was followed whenever a foreigner was obtaining title deeds.
“Since government gives land titles so the ministry of land need to ascertain that the right channel was followed when acquiring a particular land,” he said.