New law bars foreigners from owning land
Ministry of Lands has stressed that foreigners will no longer own private land as per the amended Land Laws (2022) which President Lazarus Chakwera assented to in July this year.
Speaking in Mzuzu after launching the communication strategy for the implementation of the laws, Deputy Minister of Lands Deus Gumba said the new land laws give ownership of land to Malawians.
“There has been an outcry that foreigners are taking over our land. So, the current laws do not provide for foreigners to own land. The laws are giving more ownership to the people of Malawi through registration,” he said.
However, Gumba said the laws will not apply retrospectively.
“Those who already own land, it will remain theirs. But they cannot transfer ownership to another foreigner or a foreigner cannot sell land to a fellow foreigner,” he said.
The new laws have repealed Section 37 of the 2016 Land Laws and replaced it with a new Section 37 which reads: “Land shall not be granted or sold to a person who is not a citizen of Malawi.
“Any existing grant in favour of a person who is not a citizen of Malawi shall be valid until it expires…any existing lease in favour of a person who is not a citizen of Malawi shall, upon expiry, not be renewed.
“An existing lease in favour of a person who is not a citizen of Malawi, may upon expiry, only be renewed if the land is (a) developed and (b) used as a residential home or for commercial or charitable purposes.”
The previous Section limited land leases by foreigners to 50 years.
Gumba said the communication strategy will assist the ministry to raise awareness on the laws and ensure a smooth popularisation of any new legislative arrangement to enhance acceptability.
The ministry’s Principal Secretary Davie Chilonga said implementation of new land laws was informed by the Land Reform Implementation Plan which was formulated in 2017 and took effect in 2018 along with the new legislation.
Initially, three pilot sites, namely Phalombe, Kasungu and Rumphi were identified to test the new laws through a Support to Land Governance project which was funded by the European Union.
However, six more districts were later selected to pilot the new land legislation through the Agricultural Commercialisation (Agcom) project. They include Karonga, Nkhotakota, Mchinji, Chikwawa and Nsanje.
The six key land related laws were being implemented together in the pilot phase and these laws were; The Land Survey Act 2016, Physical Planning Act 2016, Customary Land Act 2016 and two amended pieces of legislation, namely Registered Land Amendment Act 2016 and Lands Acquisition and Compensation Amendment Act 2016. Nyika Media Club president Joseph Mwale said the media will be important in disseminating the New Land Laws.
