Activist Billy Mayaya yesterday led a group of concerned Malawians on a peaceful march in Lilongwe, to petition President Peter Mutharika not to assent to the contentious land related bills.
According to Mayaya, there are a number of grey areas in the bill which apparently are favouring the rich and not the majority of poor Malawians.
Parliament recently approved the principal Land Bill, the Customary Land, the Land Survey and Physical Planning bills amid reservations from opposition Members of Parliament.
The demonstrators, who were escorted by heavily armed police officers, marched from Area 18 roundabout to Civic Offices at City Centre where a petition was presented to Director of Administration at Lilongwe City Council, Dyton Milanzi.
“The gaps pertain to issues of compensation for land grabs which were done in the past and could happen in the future. You know that in places such as Mulanje and Thyolo, there was a lot of land which was grabbed by colonialists and yet the issue of compensation has not been addressed.
“There is also a new land alliance where international cooperations will be able to hire out 200,000 hectares of land in the country for their own benefit. Foreigners can come to Malawi, hire land and grow crops which they will export to their countries. These issues are critical to ensure that land rights are upheld,” said Mayaya in an interview on the sidelines of the demos.
Some CSO as well as chiefs have also expressed their dissatisfaction on the passing of the land related bills saying they will only punish poor people in rural areas.
Among others issues, the bill introduces a fee for transactions in customary land and fears are rife that traditional leaders will be stripped off their powers in the management of customary land as it provides for establishment of some committees to decide such matters.
Meanwhile, the Malawi Law Society (MLS) has come out to make clarifications over the land bills which have caught controversial remarks from various stakeholders in the country.
In a statement, the Malawi Law Society argues that there have been consultations before the bills were passed.
“The executive first introduced the land-related bills in Parliament in 2012. Since then, various committees of Parliament have been scrutinising the bills, consulting different stakeholders and the public over the bills. The society reiterates its position that the passing of the land bill is legal in spite of the walkout by the opposition Members of Parliament,” reads the statement.
MLS further urges the executive and Parliament to finalise the enactment of the remaining land-related bills.
“The society commends the state for the ongoing land law reforms. However, there is need for a robust policy audit that complements the land law reforms underway. The society also notes that there are massive budgetary implications for the implementation of the town and country planning reforms under the physical planning bill,” the statement reads.
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