Chief Mphamba of the Tumbuka speaking people in Lundazi district of Eastern province says government should quicken the process of availing traditional leaders with the 1958 chiefdom land maps.

Last week, Chieftainess Mwape of the Nsenga people in Nyimba district appealed to government to help resolve a land dispute between her chiefdom and Chief Nyamphande of Petauke district saying it had potential to turn into serous chiefdom chaos.

And in an interview, Chief Mphamba said the increase in land wrangles among traditional leaders across the country was a source of concern which should be handled with urgency.

“We have a lot of land wrangles here especially with neighboring chiefdoms, they have encroached my chiefdom, it seems other chiefs don’t know their boundaries up to now’’ chief Mphamba said.

He said government had been promising to avail the map showing chiefdom boundaries to traditional leaders, but had not fulfilled the promise.

“Government has been telling us the maps will soon be delivered, so the government should speed up the process so that these conflicts should finally come to an end, the 1958 map is the one we have always been using and they should also call us all so that every chief should know where their chiefdoms begin from and end at,” chief Mphamba said.

He also called on fellow traditional leaders to respect the existing boundaries.

“Let us respect the boundaries; each chief should stay within their borders, unlike encroaching into other chiefdoms,” chief Mphamba said.

Meanwhile Eastern Province permanent secretary Dr Bulleti Nsemukila said the issue of land disputes among traditional leaders was common in the region.

“I will consult responsible Government departments to help resolve these issues,” Dr Nsemukila.