Land law under Cabinet review

A Cabinet committee has compiled a report on land law which will be presented to Cabinet for review before an amendment bill of the Land Act is tabled in the next sitting of Parliament.

Minister of Land Kezzie Msukwa confirmed the development in an interview on Friday.

The report follows a directive President Lazarus Chakwera made in January this year that the ministry should intervene in land wrangles that have rocked some districts especially Thyolo, Mulanje and Nkhata Bay.

The President ordered the ministry to consult the Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiative (Cdedi) and People’s Land Organisation (PLO) who have been demanding that tea estates should return land they allegedly grabbed from local people in Thyolo and Mulanje.

Msukwa said his ministry has consulted on the issue leading to the Cabinet report which has also tackled issues of land in Thyolo and Mulanje.

He said: “The Cabinet will shortly review the report and we are certain presentation of the Bill [already prepared] will be done during the next sitting of the Parliament. This law, if passed, encompasses some solutions to the land wrangles in Thyolo and Mulanje, and elsewhere.

“Relevant ministries and government departments already took steps to take care of all legal requirements to have this Bill tabled before the National Assembly.”

However, Msukwa said this is work in progress and as such consultations are still on-going.

Cdedi gave government a 90-day ultimatum on June 17 2021 to resolve the land wrangle in Mulanje and Thyolo.

In a separate interview on Friday, Cdedi executive director Sylvester Namiwa said their ultimatum expired on September 18 2021 and they were weighing options on the way forward.

He said: “We haven’t received any feedback from government.”