Chief Chamuka grants govt. 320 hectors of land for Chisamba district Administration offices

Chief Chamuka grants govt. 320 hectors of land for Chisamba district Administration offices

Kabwe, June 22, 2013-ZANIS — Government has expressed its gratitude to his Royal Highness, Chief Chamuka, and the Chamuka Royal Establishment, for surrendering 320 hectares of customary land to government, for the construction of the district administration office block, in Chisamba District.

Central Province Permanent Secretary, Anne Sinyangwe says government was equally grateful to the people of Chisamba for welcoming Republican President, Michael Sata ‘s decree to upgrade Chisamba to a district status.

Mrs. Sinyangwe said she is happy that Chief Chamuka and his subjects are appreciative and supportive of the Patriotic Front’s, PF, policies which aim at improving the living conditions of the local people.

‘’Your Royal Highness, as government we are very happy with your gesture and we want to assure you that the creation of Chisamba District is not in bad faith but in good faith, because it is government’s intention to see to it that every Zambian benefits from the national cake.’’ She explained.

ZANIS reports that the Permanent Secretary said this when she received the allocated land on behalf of government in Chisamba, yesterday.

She added that the move will help bring the services as close to the people as possible because social amenities such as hospitals, schools and other services will be readily available to the people as ever before.

‘’Your Royal Highness, as you may be aware, from time immemorial, our people in rural areas have, in the past regimes, been subjected to harsh treatment where they have had to move long distances to access education facilities,  health services and good road networks.

“  But this is not what we want to see continuing as government.  We want to see a better Zambia where every citizen has equal access to services and, therefore, you can see that the government is surely concerned.’’ She added.

Mrs. Sinyangwe also said the creation of the new districts will provide employment to the local people but, however, regretted the increasing levels of unemployment in the Province, saying it will take time for government to cushion the unemployment levels in the country.

She said in view of the three newly created districts in the Province which have subsequently added to 10 districts, her office has received a treasury authority to employ at least 1, 800 people to fill up the vacancies in the new districts.

Already, her office has received over 3000 applications and expects the number to rise following the extension of the deadline by the government, she said.

‘’I just don’t know how we are going to alleviate the issues of unemployment in this country, because no matter how many people we employ, unemployment still remains a cross-cutting issue.

“  I think we need conceited efforts to help provide employment to the young people, otherwise, government alone cannot manage to wipe out the increasing levels of unemployment.’’ She lamented.

And Mrs. Sinyangwe has appealed to Chief Chamuka to consider allocating more land to government for infrastructure development so that Chisamba can have more investment base in the near future.

She said the need for adequate land is immense because the district will only attract more investment once the social amenities are erected hence the need to widen the horizons to accommodate the would-be investors.

And earlier, Chief Chamuka expressed optimism that the creation of Chisamba District by President Michael Sata will ensure development in the area.

He said his subjects have welcomed and accepted the President’s decision because it is a step in the right direction and that he shall ensure that every undertaking aimed at developing the area is supported by everyone in his chiefdom.

He was speaking when he handed over an expanse of 320 hectares of land to government, in Chisamba, today.

He added that he had no problem allocating more land to government and that he is more than able and willing to allocate the required 1000 hectares in total to facilitate the construction of district offices and the much needed social amenities in the area.

‘’I want to state here that I am not an anti-development leader who will deny my people an opportunity to access quality services and so I assure you Madame Permanent Secretary and your able government that as a chiefdom, we shall ensure that more land is allocated to match the requirement as long as my subjects will benefit.’’ He said.

The 320 hectares in question has been born out of the three villages namely Mpikwa, Chachima and Nsama villages, which share the boundaries with the United Church of Zambia to the east, of Chalimbana Fresh Limited and Kalangwa Farm to the south, and the main Chipembi gravel road to the north.

About 19 households have been affected as a result . However  prime arrangements have been made for them to be relocated to neighbouring villages within the chiefdom, and that his affected subjects have accepted to be relocated to pave way for development.

‘’Madame Permanent Secretary, I would like to inform you that my chiefdom has the most cooperative people as long as something is intended to benefit them, and in this regard, they are happy and grateful to the President for the gesture and together we pledge to support all the developmental projects in the implementation process of the new district from now on.’’ He said.

And in his letter of consent for the official handover of the traditional land, Chief Chamkuka promised not to interfere with the ownership of the land in mention and that it shall, henceforth, be converted as government state land by the government.

‘’Madame Permanent Secretary, I have today, 21^st June, 2013 allocated 320 hectares of land to the government for further development and in accordance with the Laws of the Republic of Zambia and with this, I guarantee you that from today on, it ceases to be mine and I shall not have any claims, whatsoever, for as long as the ownership of this land is concerned,’’  he said.

Meanwhile, Chief Chamuka has instructed his headmen to allocate the remaining 680 hectares of land to government from their various portions of land to sum up the required 1000 hectares in order to ensure development in the area.

He, however,  advised his headmen to ensure that none of his subjects are displaced reminding them that his chiefdom was wide and huge and that he did not expect the move to raise any commotion considering that it was a developmental investment.

Chief Chamuka pledged his continued support of the government for as long as it remained committed to improving the livelihood of the local people.