The failure by the ministry of lands to deliver on pledges, pronouncements and targets set for the National Land Titling Program – NLTP continue to haunt government. In the 2018 national budget, government announced a target of issuing 300,000 title deeds, a target which has still not been met to date.
As if to add salt to injury, Lands minister Jean Kapata on 5 July 2020 announced on national television that her ministry would deliver 5 million titles in one year, between July 2020 and July 2021. She informed the nation that the will soon announce the engagement of a private company to facilitate the process and that her ministry has equipment that can print thousands of title deed in a matter of hours.
However when the Zambian Business Times – ZBT contacted the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources Ndashe Yumba, it was disclosed that the ministry is still at the negotiations stage with a private partner organization that would be engaged to facilitate the delivery 5 million title deeds in one year.
Yumba told the ZBT in an exclusive interview on July 9, 2020, that negotiations on identifying a possible partner are ongoing and that the capacity to roll out this programme will soon be communicated.
“We are still in negotiations and when you are on a negotiation table you don’t discuss anything otherwise one will be preempting the procurement process, therefore when the issue is discharged you will be informed,” He said without giving away any timelines.
And in a separate and related exclusive interview, Zambia Land Alliance Executive Director Patrick Musole has raised concerns over the delayed process of validating the land policy despite having made their submissions.
Musole said the ministry circulated a draft which needed to be reviewed and validated by stakeholders but that there has been silence from government since submissions where made in May this year, hence the Alliance was hoping that the issue will soon be attended to.
He disclosed that in the submissions made by the alliance, it has advocated for customary land certificate to be retained for the interest of security of tenure under customary land which is insecure and continues to lead to indigenes displacements.
He added that the alliance has also made a submission to strengthen women land rights to ensure women are given land in their own names as opposed to the previous way of having land in the names of their husbands and other family members.
One of the key ways to secure land in Zambia is through the amendment and updating of the lands act, the process that continues to be delayed. But the worry by concerned citizens is that even as the amendments continue to be derailed, land is being given away to foreign entities and individuals while citizens continue to be displaced especially in rural areas.
Land titling has key economic benefits for the country and its citizens as it would release value for landowners to use as collateral to source for funding from lenders. For the government, any sell of titled land attracts property transfer tax – PPT revenue and well as provide a base for effective collection of land and property rates for local authorities.
