17 December 2011
LANDS, Energy, and Water Development Minister, Christopher Yaluma, has admitted that acts of corruption at his ministry are still rife but stressed that steps are being taken to curb the vice.
Concluding his policy statement on estimates for his ministry in Parliament yesterday, Mr Yaluma regretted that corruption was rife especially in the issuance of title deeds and allocation of plots.
“My ministry is perceived to be corrupt and I agree with this perception but we have got to eliminate corruption. I have tried to prove a point by having a title deed processed within two weeks and yet the same process in many other cases takes two years.
“We therefore need to have a value chain process so that we can monitor the title deed issuance and track down corrupt elements in the process and deal with them,” he said.
The minister said he was frustrated that the process of title deeds issuance took unnecessarily long because of corrupt officers at his ministry.
He noted that it was frustrating for people to travel long distances to Lusaka to process their title deeds.
“As a ministry, we are seriously considering decentralising the process so it can be done at provincial level.
“You can imagine that I have got pending applications for titles deeds of 2001 in my office, which is unacceptable. Let us, therefore, work together and expose issues of bribes so that we can decisively deal with culprits,” he said.
Mr Yaluma during the same debate reiterated the PF Government’s commitment to boosting the energy sector in Zambia started by the defeated MMD regime.
Earlier, Chongwe Member of Parliament (MP) Sylvia Masebo (PF) said corruption at the Ministry of Lands was rampant, that was why at some point late president Levy Mwanawasa closed it to pave way for investigations.
“Some amount of change was seen as a result of this action by Dr Mwanawasa and I am, therefore, urging the minister to clean up this ministry. In the last three years we saw a total diversion from good governance,” she said.
Choma MP, Cornelius Mweetwa (UPND) urged the minister to decentralise the issuance of title deeds to provincial centres.
Mr Mweetwa called on the Government to increase staff levels so that service delivery could be enhanced at the Ministry of Lands.
Namwala MP, Lubezhi Moono (UPND) said the high prices of fuel obtaining in Zambia negated efforts of growing the economy.
Chavuma MP, Kenneth Konga (MMD) in his debate stressed that the energy sector was a critical component to the social and economic development of Zambia.
Mr Konga noted that aspects of mining, agriculture and industries all hinged on the availability of energy and he was impressed that the PF Government had increased allocations to the sector.
Justice Minister Sebastian Zulu told Parliament that the Government would ensure that corruption was eradicated.
In presenting estimates for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Mr Zulu said the Government was serious about fighting corruption and that was why it would re-introduce Article 37 which was struck out from the ACC Act by the MMD regime.
“The PF campaigned on the platform of fighting corruption and in view of this we shall reinstate the repealed Section 37 of the ACC Act in its totality. The fight against corruption requires vibrancy and concerted efforts by all institutions and citizens,” he said.
Mr Zulu who was also acting leader of Government business in the House said the Government would support ACC through the national Anti-Corruption Policy.
The K60 billion allocated to the commission was approved.
AllAfrica – All the Time
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Zambia: Yaluma Admits Corruption At Lands