The Polytechnic holds national conference on land governance
The Conference, which took place from 6th to 8th September 2017, drew different stakeholders which included students, Research participants from Catholic and Mzuzu University, government employees and Professor Blessing Chisinga, a Political scientist lecturer at the Chancellor College and the Director of Centre for Social Research at the University of Malawi. The aim of the conference was to share experiences of land governance in Africa that can change Malawi.
Dr Peter Mhagama who is the Dean of Postgraduate and Research Studies officially opened the Conference. In his remarks, the Dean emphasized that land governance helps improve socio economic growth in the African setting.
The keynote speaker at the conference was Professor Blessings Chinsinga. He advised that land remains the most vital productive resource and that there is need for land governance which are a set of rules that administer land rights to promote and enhance efficiency of its access and use, without access to land livelihoods of people are less attainable.
He further advised students and the lecturers in the faculty to embark on a serious campaign to change the planning mess that has been adopted in the country for the past ten years. He advised that in order for Malawi to be developed there is need for strict measures to avoid illegal allocation of customary land.
The Dean of the Faculty, Mr Rodrick Chilipunde agreed that there are serious land problems in the country and that as a faculty they would ensure better governance of land in order not to exploit the precious resource.
The conference was a major insight to the Faculty as a whole and the stakeholders who are to prepare in order to avoid problems that may arise in the near future.