Mzuzu City Council authorities have lamented that the lack of coordination between three government entities that manage land in the city is causing chaos.

Mayor for the city Gift Desire Nyirenda disclosed this during an engagement meeting between the Ministry of Lands, councilors, and council management on land laws and their implementation in Mzuzu where he claimed that the council, ministry of Lands, and also Malawi housing cooperation were all making decisions independently.

Nyirenda believes with the new land laws, sanity will prevail which he said will change how land is managed in the city.
Said Nyirenda, “One thing I mentioned is that we have three landlords in the city, we have got Malawi housing, the lands themselves, and then the city council and everyone is doing whatever they think can help.

“If the lands department sell their plot nobody will talk about it, maybe without a plan from the city someone can go and do that and they move forward that has been a challenge for us.”

Director of Administration in the Ministry of Lands Dr Victor Sandikonda said the reception of stakeholders with which they’ve met and engaged on the land laws has been positive.

Sandikonda further said the government has approved a national roll-out program for land laws and is currently mobilizing resources for implementation.

‘You know previously these people were working without knowing the laws. Now this time the Ministry of Lands has decided to give them the tools that they can use as they can settle cases related to land,” said Sandikonda.

The sensitization meeting on the new land laws has so far seen traditional leaders, district commissioners, the media, judges of the Supreme Court, and now councilors and council management being engaged.

The new land laws of 2022, among other things, prohibit the selling customary estates and payment of registration fees when registering customer estates unless they belong to a company.