Some Luanshya residents have asked President Michael Sata to tame Roan Member of Parliament (MP) Chishimba Kambwili’s illegal occupation of land belonging to Luanhsya Golf Club.
The residents have complained that Kambwili erected a house on land that belongs to the golf club illegally. The residents interviewed at the weekend said Kambwili had become too big for the people of Luanshya since councilors under the Luanshya City Council were also failing to tame him.
But Kambwili said he had made an application to the council in Luanshya where his application to formalise the illegal land allocation was rejected.
“I have appealed the council decision to reject my application so that we can settle the matter. The land in question has been idle for a long time and I thought of joining those who were building on it so that we can make it productive. Some people who are raising this matter are not well meaning,” he said.
But the Luanshya residents feel that Kambwili was a leader who should not engage in illegal land invasions as he was setting a bad example to the ordinary people.
On the land in question, Kambwili has erected a mansion on the stretch that was reserved by the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Luanshya Golf Club to cater for future expansions, but it had been idle for many years.
Although the land is in a residential area, Kambwili is keeping livestock such as cattle, free range chickens, goats, turkeys, donkeys and even a wild animal. The livestock grazes from the Luanshya Golf Club greens.
Apart from Kambwili erecting the house on illegal land, the mansion was built on a sewer line and the minister has asked the Kafubu Water and Sewerage Company to divert the waste disposal system because he could not demolish his house, which was built at a huge cost.
According to officials from Kafubu Water and sewerage Company, Kambwili has threatened to punish anyone who would want to resolve the matter.
“The issue of the pipeline is a hot one. We have been threatened by the minister and we are at his mercy, but the bigger problem will come in future when we begin to have sewer blockages because the line was strategically located n a slope so that the effluent can flow smoothly,” the officials said.
The golf club is among the assets under receivership by the (Roan Antelope Mining Corporation (RAMCOZ) but Kambwili moved in an erected the house despite being warned by the council not to go ahead with the construction.
One resident James Chaliyumba said Kambwili was engaged in many illegal activities such as pressing the Chinese who are running the Luanshya Copper Mines to offer him contracts.
“Recently, Kambwili was awarded a hefty contract of K1 billion to dismantle an old smelter where the Chinese want to build a modern smelter. He is so quiet because he has been eating, although we have not forgotten that he was a strong critic of the Chinese while in the opposition. This is hypocrisy. We did not elect him to become a business man with the Chinese but to represent us the people of Roan constituency,” he said.
Another resident Mwansa Changwe said Kambwili was working closely with Luanshya Mayor Nathan Bwalya who was supporting the illegal land invasion.
He said Kambwili had employed the Mayor’s elder brother at the parliamentary constituency office where they are merely engaged in doing personal businesses, especially those with the Chinese at Luanshya Copper Mine.
“We are aware of what is happening. The next election will not be for Mr Kambwili because all what he has done is to merely enrich himself and those who are close to him,” he said.
A member of the Luanshya Golf Club who refused to be named said the club had engaged the Kambwili to discuss the matter, but the minister had refused to take advice from the people because he was too senior to be addressed by the golfers.
“We have been talking to the minister but it seems he will not listen to us because of his position and that there is nothing we can do because he has already built a house there,” he said.
The golfers have also engaged the Luanshya City Council to resolve the matter.
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