Elita Chikwati Senior Agriculture Reporter
Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Minister Air Chief Marshal (Retired) Perrance Shiri has distanced himself from bogus land dealers who are masquerading as officials in his ministry or his relatives and conning desperate land seekers.

Minister Shiri acknowledged that a lot of people had been conned and warned the public against dealing with such people saying they risked losing their money.

He said land allocation was not the prerogative of the Shiri family but the responsibility of the State.

“I am aware that some people masquerading as officers in my ministry or my relatives are using my name to lie to people that they can facilitate land and in the process a lot of people have been conned.

“I have been advised there is a person, Mary Shiri, who was involved in such fraudulent activities. The issue to do with land allocation is not family affair; not a Shiri affair. My siblings, relatives and children have nothing to do with the allocation of land.

“This is a national duty and Government has got its rightful employees; civil servants, from district level up to national level. We have lands officers at various levels and those are the people charged with the identification of land and for recommending the allocation of land to applicants,” he said.

Minister Shiri said Ministers of State for Provincial Affairs were also involved in the process of identifying land.

“Identification of beneficiaries is not the responsibility of my office; but for lower echelons. Mine is just to confirm the accuracy of the information availed and we then approve the recommendation for the allocation of the land.

“Whoever decides to part with their money thinking that it will allow them access to land will be misleading oneself. I hope I will not have to repeat this once again.

“There are no processing fees charged when applying for land,” he said.