Five councils in Eastern Province exposed for issuing Prison Land to commercial and residential developers.

Government has expressed concern that some councils in Eastern Province have been allocating land belonging to the prisons service to commercial and residential developers.
Home Affairs Deputy Minister, Colonel Panji Kaunda, observed that councils in Chipata, Katete, Lundazi, Petauke and Nyimba have given out part of prison land to commercial and residential developers.
Colonel Kaunda says that this is wrong because the law requires that the nearest building to a prison be 200 meters away.
He stated that he will engage the Ministry of Local government and Housing to iron out the land issues.
Col. Kaunda however, expressed happiness that the prisons in the
province have recorded high production of maize.
He says the situation demonstrates that the Prisons Department in the country is able to feed through production of own food and that all they need is support from government to add value to their crops.
And the deputy minister says that his ministry is tackling issues of salary harmonization as it is aware that there is an imbalance in the ranks within the Ministry and other defenses forces.