Minister touts amended land laws
Th e Ministry of Lands has said the amended land laws have addressed key areas of concern raised by most Malawians after Parliament passed into law the land-related Bills in 2016.
These laws included the Land Act 2016, the Customary Land Act 2016, the Physical Planning Act 2016, the Land Survey Act 2016, the Registered Land (Amendment) Act 2016 and the Land Acquisition and Compensation (Amendment) Act 2016.
The passage of these Bills into laws attracted mixed reactions from stakeholders and the public, including traditional leaders, who felt the pieces of legislation had several grey areas that needed clarification and review.
But speaking in Blantyre on Friday, Deputy Minister of Lands Deus Gumba said the amended land laws have now dealt with almost all the concerns several stakeholders had raised, resulting in a number of petitions being delivered to Parliament expressing their dissatisfaction.
Other stakeholders further felt that the consultation process leading to the drafting of the Bills was not adequate.
The deputy minister was speaking during an awareness and sensitisation meeting on amended land laws with non-government organisations, civil society organisations, faith-based organisations and the academia.
Following the concerns from various stakeholders, President Lazarus Chakwera directed in Parliament on October 20 2022 that all the land-related laws be reviewed.
during the meeting
“ My ministry constituted a team of technocrats to work on the assignment and the review process was concluded in March, 2022 when Parliament passed the amendments to the land-related laws.
“ This law review process received overwhelming input from many Malawians most of which pointed to the need to address landlessness, concentration of land in the hands of few people and the simplifying of the process of granting customary estates ,” explained Gumba.
Par l iament passed the amendments of the Land (Amendment) Act, 2022, Customary Land (Amendment) Act, 2022, Land Survey (Amendment) Act, 2022, Land Acquisition and Compensation (Amendment) Act, 2022, Physical Planning (Amendment) Act, 2022; and Registered Land (Amendment) Act, 2022.
Gumba said the amended land laws have, among others, addressed concerns on sale or grant of land to non-citizens, sale of vacant freehold or leasehold land, sale of customary estates, payment of application fees by citizens when applying for a customary estate, role of traditional leaders in management and administration of customary land and the status of freehold land.
Chairperson of the Anglican Council in Malawi, who is also bishop of Diocese of Southern Malawi, Alinafe Kalemba, said every person needs to have access to the land resource but because of what had been happening, not many had that opportunity.
“So this kind of awareness will help us as religious communities to take crucial information to the people so that they are made aware of the opportunity of owning and utilising land through rightful means.
“We also believe what has been laid down will curb corruption on land management, especially with foreigners who have been getting access to land when,” he said.
