Mutharika under pressure not to sign Land bills into law: Muluzi says ‘mass sensitisation critical’

President Peter Mutharika is under pressure not to sign the controversial land bills into law prompting Minister ofLands, Housing and Urban Housing Atupele Muluzi,to embark on a countrywide tour to array the fears.

Presidential press secretary Mgeme Kalirani said Mutharika has not received the land  bills and other newly passed bills for him to put pen to paper.

“We cannot comment on the issue because parliament has not sent the said bills to parliament,” said Kalirani.

National Assembly spokesperson Leonard Mengezi said parliament woud send the bills to the President for him to assent them into law.

“We will send the bills any day this week,” said Mengezi.

This comes at a time when pressure is growing from some sections of society who say Mutharika should not sign the five related Land bills into law because, among other things, they claim they take land powers from traditional leaders.

Minister ofLands, Housing and Urban Housing Atupele Muluzi,has been meeting various stakeholders including traditional leaders to assure them that the Land laws will be to the good of Malawians.

Some civil society organisations (CSOs) have asked the President not to assent to four of the 10 Bills already passed on the basis that government did not consult stakeholders on the laws.

But Muluzi  underlined that the bills had gone through a rigorous consultation process before being tabled in Parliament.

The four Bills passed are the Principal Land Bill, Physical Planning Bill, Land Survey Bill and the Customary Land Bill.

Said  Muluzi: “These Bills emanate from the 2002 Land Policy. For the past 14 years, the Bills have gone through rigorous consultations and in March this year, they were presented to Parliament for review and input.

“We feel moving on to the next level of mass sensitisation is critical.”

Muluzi underlined that the four Land-related Bills currently awaiting the President’s nod represent the much-needed legal framework that would spur socio-economic development in the country.

He underlined that Malawi, currently, is at ‘critical juncture regarding the role of land management to the socio-economic development of the country’.