CEEC calls for improved land ownership arrangements to support women entrepreneurs

The Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) has called for improved land ownership arrangements to enable Zambians, particularly women involved in agriculture and tourism, to use their property as collateral when accessing financing.

CEEC Director General Dr. Charles Mungule says the Commission has so far financed close to 1,200 women undertaking agricultural and tourism projects on customary land, with funding amounting to approximately K200 million.

Speaking in an interview with PRIME TV, Dr. Mungule said CEEC's mandate was to implement government's economic empowerment agenda by providing financing to targeted citizens and enterprises.

He said since the Commission opened its doors in 2008, it has disbursed a total portfolio of approximately K2.3 billion to targeted citizens and enterprises.

“Since 2008, when the Commission opened doors, we have funded so many of the targeted citizens and enterprises, with a total portfolio now standing at 2.3 billion,” Dr. Mungule said.

He said women engaged in agricultural and tourism projects on customary land had benefited significantly from CEEC financing.

“But specifically in terms of women and in relation to these land issues, we have funded so far close to 1,200 women who are into agricultural projects as well as tourism projects. That's on customary land,” he said.

Dr. Mungule said the financing provided to the women had amounted to about K200 million, but challenges surrounding customary land ownership continued to limit their ability to use the property to secure additional financing.

He explained that certificates issued for customary land are generally not accepted as credit instruments because they do not constitute title deeds.

“When we talk of these land issues, particularly the projects that we fund that are in customary land, the certificates that they give them are not really acceptable as instruments for credit because they are not title deeds,” he said.

Dr. Mungule said CEEC was therefore interested in engaging key stakeholders to explore ways of enabling people holding property on communal or customary land to use it as collateral for their businesses.

“We think we have an opportunity with having conversations around this with key stakeholders to just ensure how we can have such clients in communal land also have a way of having their property as something that they can offer as collateral for their projects,” he said.

He said the Zambia Land Alliance initiative could provide an opportunity for stakeholders to find practical solutions to the challenge.

“The Zambia Land Alliance initiative for us is something that I think is a good window to see how we can take it further,” Dr. Mungule said.

He said CEEC would be willing to support discussions aimed at developing a framework that benefits communities while strengthening citizens' ownership of land.

Dr. Mungule said land ownership was an important component of the Commission's broader economic empowerment agenda.

“One issue that CEEC pursues very seriously while we are busy with the economic empowerment broadly is the issue of ensuring that Zambians have ownership of land,” he said.

He said it was difficult to achieve meaningful economic empowerment when farmers and other entrepreneurs were investing in projects on land they did not ultimately own.

“If a farmer is busy with their project on a land that they don't even own, for us that makes us uncomfortable because they need to own that piece of land. It needs to be part of the assets they own as they run that project,” Dr. Mungule said.

He further stressed the importance of ensuring that land ownership remains accessible to Zambians.

“We take into account the need for entrenching ownership of land in the hands of Zambians, because this is our country and citizens surely should be given access to land,” he said.

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