Public land is under attack as powerful and politically-connected individuals are arbitrarily occupying and developing it without authorisation.
These are individuals that already own plots which they are now illegally extending by occupying and constructing structures in road, dambo or river reserves, tree belts or any open space available.
Although the transgression has not counted out any locality, the Ministry of Lands says the practice is primarily extensive in the country’s cities and urban areas.
But experts have attributed the unauthorised developments to, among others, lack of public awareness on the consequences, corrupt tendencies and authorities’ failure to discipline the powerful and politically-connected persons.
Secretary for Lands Davie Chilonga, in an interview, said the tendency of occupying and developing public land without authorisation, which is against provisions in the land-related laws, was quite serious.
As an example, Chilonga said while the unacceptable practice in Lilongwe City is widespread in Areas 10, 12, 43, 46 and 4, it is prevalent within the city and other urban areas.
“It has also spread to some parts of rural areas, particularly around facilities such as schools, health centres and markets. This tendency, if unchecked, disturbs aesthetics of the planned areas, as development looks unplanned in a planned area,” he said.
However, Chilonga said while the country has clear laws against the practice, for several years there has been no strong commitment from authorities to enforce them.
Some pieces of legislation include the Land Act, Physical Planning Act, Water Resources Act, Public Roads Act and Environment Management Act.
For instance, Section 20 of the Land Act says a person who uses or occupies any public land not entitled to such use or occupation by virtue of valid grant, lease or other disposition made by the minister, commits an offence.
It adds that upon conviction, such a person shall be liable to a fine of K500 000 and to imprisonment for three years.
Further, Section 54 of the Physical Planning Act states that any person who subdivides land or enters into a subdivision agreement or commences development without grant of development permission where it is required commits an offence.
Correspondingly, upon conviction the person shall be liable to a fine of K500 000 and imprisonment for a year; and in case of continuing offence, a further fine of K2 000 for each day is applied.
But Chilonga observed that the main bottleneck has been lack of adequate and dedicated personnel to carry out enforcement activities.
According to Chilonga, illegal developers who have extended their plots without authorisation are in breach of lease agreements they signed with government and risk their leases being terminated.
But Blantyre City Council chief executive officer Dennis Chinseu said the tendency is not rampant in the city.
However, Zomba City Council CEO Archangel Bakolo said his city has not been spared the practice, with Likangala River reserve being the most affected.
“Similarly, roads are encroached in high density unplanned settlements of Chinamwali, Mpondabwino and Sadzi. Zomba City is also experiencing increased encroachment in hills and forest plantation,” added Bakolo.
However, he said the council was preparing community participatory advisory layout plans to guide on how public reserves should be protected.
“Through the Zomba City Town Planning Committee, all developments applications within protected areas are not approved. Strict enforcement is done to illegal developments on protected areas,” Bakolo said.
Mangochi Municipal Council also has high occurrence of illegal developers.
The municipality’s CEO Ernest Kadzokoya, in a written response, said the illegal developers claim to have bought land from chiefs and other individuals.
He, however, said the municipality has been engaging the communities, together with other stakeholders like National Water Resources Authority, to relocate from river reserves and forests.
“But there has been high resistance. The municipality has also been enforcing illegal developments, but there is also high resistance from the communities. There is need for more sensitisation by the Ministry of Lands and other stakeholders on the new land laws,” said Kadzokoya.
Although the extent of illegal developments on public land cannot be measured, land governance expert Emmanuel Mlaka believes the issue is exacerbated by lack of human resource at the ministry to carry out public awareness.
Mlaka, who is also national director for Land Governance Alliance (Laga), said the problem is sometimes compounded by authorities who turn a blind eye when some politicians or other politically-connected individuals make deliberate mistakes.
He said: “People don’t know the consequences of occupying and development public land. That is why there is always tension between government and the people because they are not aware of the content of the law and the implications of their activities.”
But Chilonga said while it may be true that there are cases of some politically-connected or very rich individuals who have occupied and developed public land without authorisation, the ministry’s assessment shows that every developer tends to be inclined to encroach public land because of perceived inaction by government and that there were no penalties for offenders.
“Now, the laws have been amended and are more explicit than before. There are now penalties, including imprisonment for unauthorised occupation and development of public land. The current efforts on enforcement action will, therefore, spare no one,” he said.
