Dowa community bemoans compensation on road project
Over 100 people in Dowa, including some chief have bemoaned the amounts of compensation they got from government for loss of their property due to construction of a road from Lumbadzi to Chezi through Dowa.
According to several people Weekend Nation talked to last week, some victims in the area claimed they got as low as K200 for loss of their property such as bananas, trees and maize gardens while others got several thousands of kwacha for almost similar property.
The people say they were compensated in several phases between 2008 and 2009, but have been chasing for additional compensation for about four years without success.
In an interview last Wednesday, Village Head Mtata of Traditional Authority Mkukula in the district said some of his subjects affected by the road construction lost the only land they had for crop production.
“Several other people got K200 as compensation for their property. Some people who lost their gardens were not even paid anything. I don’t know what government thought about us when they were giving us compensation,” said Mtata.
The chief also says they were not notified about the coming of the contractor in 2008 to demolish their structures.
One of the victims, Mabvuto Liabunya, said he has been pushing for fair compensation for the damaged property without success.
In an emailed response on Wednesday, Roads Authority (RA) public relations officer Portia Kajanga said the authority only facilitates payments to the affected individuals.
Kajanga said the assessment of property to be demolished due to road construction are done by other government departments such as Ministry of Lands, Department of Forestry and the Ministry of Local Government through the concerned district commissioner’s office.
Dowa district commissioner Mercy Ngwira, who said was new at the council, referred the paper to the council’s lands officer, Lezias Banda.
Banda said the compensation documents for people affected by the Lumbadzi- Dowa -Chezi Road were missing in their database.
“We don’t have that list here and it is, therefore, difficult for us to comment on this matter,” said Banda.
