HRDC plans demos over land grabs
Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) has given government five working days to reverse any dubious transaction in relation to the sale of land at Livimbo School in Lilongwe or any other public land, failing which it will mobilise the citizenry in to the streets.
In a statement issued yesterday, the coalition says it is alarmed with the rate and scale at which authorities have allowed the dubious sale of public and prime land to the disadvantage of many Malawians.
The ultimatum follows revelations by the Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament that apart from Livimbo School, other schools like Chimutu, Chilambula, New Shire and Magwero in Lilongwe have also had their land encroached by some developers.
In the statement, HRDC leaders Timothy Mtambo and Gift Trapence said: “We demand that this transaction be reversed within five days, failing which we will mobilise Malawians and take to the streets to vent our anger against this malpractice.”
HRDC added that if the issues are not resolved, they will call for the resignation of Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Symon Vuwa Kaunda.
In an earlier interview, Kaunda admitted that schools had been targeted in the land-grabbing scams that his ministry is also investigating.
On Saturday, Kaunda U-turned on his earlier dismissal of the Livimbo case and admitted that the school’s premises were encroached and that they will take necessary action.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has since instituted a probe into the alleged sale of the school and were represented by one officer when PAC expected to meet officials from the ministry.
