By George Bulombola

Mzuzu, May 29, Mana: Director of Administration in the Ministry of Lands, Dr. Victor Sandikonda has appealed to local authorities to enforce amended land laws in order for them to be observed and implemented smoothly come June 2024.

The call was made, Wednesday in Mzuzu when the ministry engaged councilors and management for Mzuzu City Council on the provisions of the amended land related laws which were effected in 2022.

Sandikonda said putting the laws in place is one thing and enforcing them in another initiative which he said requires multi stakeholder coordination for the laws to be of value to the country.

“What we see in our cities today is a result of decisions which were made in the past by institutions charged with specific responsibilities and some of the decisions have led to unpleasant developments within our cities,” said Sandikonda.

He said to deal with such challenges holistically, government through the ministry is implementing the Land Reform Programme in the country and the development necessitates proper implementation mechanisms by relevant stakeholders.

“New pieces of legislation replacing the old laws were drafted and passed in Parliament in 2016, however their enactment into laws attracted a number of petitions which were also referred to Parliament by relevant actors in the land sector,” said Sandikonda.

He added that in an attempt to address the concerns which were raised by the majority of Malawians, the ministry embarked on the review process of the laws in 2020.

“The review among other issues focused on ownership of land by foreigners, status of freehold land and payment of application fees for registration and customary estates,” he said.

Mayor for Mzuzu City Council, Gift Desire Nyirenda commended the ministry for organizing the engagement meeting as it will provide a desired platform for information and knowledge sharing between the ministry and council officials.

Nyirenda said the council faced a lot of chaos and the engagement will provide good direction in land management and administration.

“This chaos emanates from diversified land owners within the cities julidicstions.  There are three owners of land in the city and the these are the city council itself, Ministry of Land and Malawi Housing Cooperation but everyone operate without consulting the other,” said Nyirenda.

He therefore called for coordination amongst the stakeholders to ensure that land within the city is utilized according to urban development plans.