North Western province Police Commissioner Eugene Sibote has refuted reports that Mufumbwe parliamentary by-election campaigns are marred with violence.
Mr Sibote said today that political activities leading to the Mufumbwe parliamentary by-election next month are going on peacefully and media reports suggesting otherwise are not true.
He told a media briefing in his office that sufficient police manpower has been deployed to prevent any form of political anarchy during the by-election period in the area.
“We have sufficient police officers in Mufumbwe and so far so good in terms of preventing political violence and protecting the residents of Mufumbwe,” he said.
Mr Sibote said as Provincial Police Commissioner, he was from tomorrow shifting his office to Mufumbwe to work alongside his officers.
He also disclosed that more police officers from other regions have been brought in to beef up the North Western province police manpower deployed in Mufumbwe.
He said this move must not be misconstrued by anyone for anything else, other than the fact that Zambia Police has a national mandate of protecting the lives of people, and to that effect police officers from other parts of the country can be deployed anywhere it is deemed necessary.
Mr Sibote has since warned that anyone harbouring plans to cause violence in Mufumbwe will be met with the full force of the law and used as an example to show that it does not pay to break the law.
“The people of Mufumbwe must be rest assured that the police will protect them from any act of political hooliganism. For this we have brought in hundreds and hundreds of officers to ensure law and order,” he said.
And apart from ensuring physical protection of the law in Mufumbwe, Mr Sibote said police have been using drama performances to sensitize Mufumbwe residents on the need to conduct themselves in a civil manner.
Meanwhile Mr Sibote has advised the media in the country to be on the ground in Mufumbwe to avoid writing false reports.
He said he has been disturbed by some quarters of the media that is listening to some people who are speaking from the comfort of their homes in Lusaka portraying a false picture about Mufumbwe experiencing skirmishes of political violence.
The police commissioner also advised political parties taking part in the Mufumbwe by election to inform police as to when and where they intend to hold their campaign meetings as required by the public order Act.
ZANIS
How can this fool simply deny without even bothering to investigate?
How can you fool No1 believe without even verifying facts on the ground.Yu believe in the watchdog.
What investigation?he is telling u of the situation on the ground and u seem to b annoyed that there is peace in mufumbwe.u enjoy bad news
# 1 you are such a fool. So you would rather listen to those stupid fools sitting in their comfort houses in Lsk than listen to the people/police on the ground? Why do you always want to find faults with PF Government? How many years did it take you to realize that MMD was not taking you anywhere? By the way, why were you so quiet during mmd? is it coz all the Presidents, save for Chiluba were quite educated than will be our President Sata today? You will die of envy and for that matter, you will never even be anything to talk about in Zambia except to support small parties that are run on tribal inclinations. Go to hell man!!!!!