Traditional leaders important-govt

Traditional leaders important-govt

Kasama, July 31, 2014, ZANIS—Government says it recognizes the important role that traditional leaders play in land administration.

Northern Province Assistant Secretary Royd Tembo said this when he opened a one day seminar for chiefs from Luapula and Northern Provinces held at Kasama Lodge today.

The meeting, organized by the Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection is meant to sensitize all stakeholders in land administration on the newly developed Zambia Integrated Land Management Information System (ZILMIS).

Mr. Tembo said that chiefs were major stakeholders in land administration especially that most land is administered through traditional leaders as customary land.

‘’It is for this reason that government has identified their royal highnesses as key in the development and utilization of the new system,’’ he said.

Mr Tembo also appealed to traditional leaders to make land available to government for its various developmental programmes.

The ZILMIS programme which commenced in 2013 is meant to fully computerize the land administration system in the country.

The new programme will replace the semi-computerized old system which had major challenges in reliability, security, efficiency and effectiveness.