By Vincent Khonje – MANA
Minister of Lands Kezzie Msukwa has ordered that all lease applications for land from the Kasungu Municipal Council should be suspended following accusations that the council has been selling land without following procedures.
Some pieces of land in Kasungu Municipality, were disposed of in what has been claimed to be suspicious manner and currently some developments are being done on them.
Speaking when he made a fact finding visit to Kasungu Municipal Council on Thursday, Msukwa said the sale of the land in question was rocked with irregularities.
First the sale was not approved by the full council but was sanctioned only by the council secretariat and the fact that on one-piece land there was government property, guidelines on public procurement and disposal of assets procedures were not followed.
“We have advised to start proceedings that will lead to the cancellation of the land that was offered and for now I have suspended all lease application for land from Kasungu municipality until they have a proper and approved layout,” said Msukwa.
The Minister also revealed that his ministry was also cheated by the council when it applied for a lease instead of a sub-division for a piece of land which the ministry went ahead to approve as if it was a new title deed yet there was already a title to it.
“In this case it means there was a title within a title which is not allowed as in Malawi currently there are no sectional titles yet until there will be a law allowing such,” he said.
There was no immediate reaction from the council’s chief executive officer Funny Msimuko and deputy mayor Jenala Nyirenda who together with some councillors and council officials had a closed-door meeting with the minister before visiting the said pieces of land.
