Court injunctions fueling illegal land occupation in Lilongwe – Council
Lilongwe City Council (LCC) says it is failing to act on illegal occupation of land through demolition of some structures because of legal restraints like court injunctions.
In an interview. LCC acting chief executive officer Charles Makanga said most illegal occupation of land in the city is going unpunished because people obtain court injunctions which stops the council to exercise its mandate on demolishing structures on illegal land.
Makanga said this in light of complaints from Bwaila District Hospital Office and Lilongwe District Council on encroachment of their land by some business people.
‘‘LCC is always ready to demolish all illegal buildings in the city like shops erected opposite Bwaila District Hospital, and some shops behind Lilongwe main depot among many.
“But owners of these premises always rush to court to obtain injunctions, restraining the city council from acting according to the laws,” Makanga said.
He said the conduct has resulted in the proliferation of erecting structures without city council’s approval and existing planning arrangements.
“This trend is causing lawlessness.’’ he said.
Makanga further said LCC will soldier on to reverse this unruly tendency and bring sanity in plot allocation within the city.
‘‘We have already consulted the Attorney General’s office to assist with legal support because the city does not have readily available lawyers due to financial constraints,’’ he said.
One of the people erecting buildings opposite Bwaila District Hospital, who just identified himself as Simama refused to say much about their alleged illegal occupation of land.
“The matter is now in court, you can speak to our legal counsel for details,” he said without providing contacts for their legal representation.
LCC is trapped in several battles of relocating business operators into newly designated places.
Business people at Waka-Waka Market in Area 36-Kaphiri are refusing to relocate Area 22 market.
Similarly, operators of minibuses for Kasungu, Ntchisi, Salima and Dwangwa, who park behind the main bus depot, have put their foot down that they will relocate to a new parking space next to Banja La Mtsogolo in Area 1.
Site chairman for Kasungu minibuses Chifundo Makawo said the new depot is small to accommodate all the minibuses that take the four routes of Kasungu, Ntchisi, Salima and Dwangwa.
‘‘We are not relocating. We have agreed with owners of opposite shops to just leave some space for their customers,’’ Makawo said.
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These people are encroaching land deep in the CBD and the LCC is idly watching……. If they are obtaining an injunction you should also obtain an injunction restraining them from continuing building. Come on.
You gave these people liberty to choose a piece of land wherever because of how toothless you dealt with the Malangalanga encroachers.
For once show that nobody is above the law……demolition all those structures in front of Bwaila Hospital. And find out whosoever gave permission for them to start building there.
Where are city planners? What job are they doing? Incompetent zombies getting salaries every monthend doing nothing
With this kind of behavior and mentality Malawi cities will always be the most backward cities in the SADC region. The city council should simply carry out its mandate. Demolish such structures and give no compastion. When you go against the law you get punished.
Which law of our land supports this kind of behaviour. The city council should simply carry out its mandate in order to have a city that is of international standards failing which, Malawi cities are all going to be slam cities. Take a look at other cities in Africa . Very nicely constructed , because plans and are regulations are strictly followed. No substandard structures are allowed to be constructed. They demolish such structures and no compensation is given. When you go against the law ,expect to suffer the consequences.
LL City does not have any tangible development plans for the City that is why there is this chaos. The City does not allocate plots in a transparent manner. They allocate plots to themselves, politicians in government and their relatives and friends, or business persons who bribe them. The local man gets nothing in terms of plot allocation. That is why encroachment is the order of the day. Clean up your act otherwise this will be the order of the day.
In terms of planning, Lilongwe Old Town has, in fact, since the year 2000 fallen into a long downward spiral. Take for instance the area between Lilongwe Community Centre Ground – Lilongwe ADMARC and Lilongwe River Bridge. The area is now congested with residential houses and unimposing buildings. Some have even encroached on Bwaila Hospital. It seems that planning and planners are the villain and are responsible for accelerating such congestions. Currently it is hard to distinguish a residential from a business zone. The area has not been professionally re–zoned for a particular purpose. The situation is made worse with the presence of taxis and minibuses that parked everywhere thereby providing a fertile ground for crime to occur on daily basis.
It appears planners have lost the idea as to where to correctly allow for the erections of structures for particular purposes. They have set a precedent for the indiscriminate scattering of buildings across the area. It is an absolute fiasco – an outcome of not really taking much notice of plans and being fairly relaxed about the best outcome. Nothing hangs together as a result. Nothing makes sense at ground level. The situation is aggravated by individuals with big ambitions who bypass planners in the local authority by going straight to preferred individuals where they wave their schemes for approval. Some developers even quickly latch on to the fact that, even if they cannot get the local authority to approve their schemes, they can get them through any officer or elsewhere within the local government.
Lilongwe Old Town needs a proper in order to make sense out of it so as to achieve a common goal of modernizing the area. As for those injunctions, my take is that they were granted for a specific purpose. They have a short duration. They are not mandatory. As such Lilongwe City Council can vacate them so along as they properly craft their case. In any case they were obtained with a view to frustrate the council’s plan. Whoever apportioned that land to those who are getting the injunctions should be investigated and reprimanded administratively.
Oh I didnt know that I can erect a building anywhere I want and then rush to courts to protect it. Im building mine at City Centre next to Lizevu.
Malawi should not condone lawlessness. It will be catastrophic to reverse these trends in future. Demolish the structures. All of them. Democracy and the rule of law should be fairly tested and tried. Lawlessness has no place anywhere. Freedoms must be jealously guarded.