Thieves break into Munkombwe’s office

UNKWOWN people last night broken into the office of southern province minister Daniel Munkombwe at the provincial administration headquarters in Choma and stole a plasma television set and a Multichoice decoder.

And Mr Munkombwe has directed southern province police commissioner Charity Katanga and provincial permanent secretary Bert Mushala to furnish him with names of police officers who are resisting relocation from Livingstone to Choma.

Addressing senior officers from the southern division police headquarters in Choma led by their commanding officer charity Katanga today, Mr Munkombwe said the burglary which occurred last night at his office is strange and begs answers.

“I am shocked that my office was broken into despite the premises being manned by armed police,” he said.

Mr Munkombwe said it is also surprising that such a thing could happen when the office of the Southern Province police chief Charity Katanga is located right opposite the minister’s within the provincial administration premises.

“Are we safe if thieves can break into my office which is just a few meters away from the police commissioner’s office? “, he asked.

The minister hoped the police will be able to get to the bottom of the matter considering the bizarre circumstances surrounding the burglary.

“I am told that that an armed police man was on duty. Could they have used magic to make him asleep while the thieves broke in and carried away the items?”

And Mr Munkombwe has directed provincial police chief Charity Katanga and permanent secretary Bert Mushala to furnish him with names of all the officers who are resisting the relocation of the provincial administration from Livingstone to Choma.

Mr Munkombwe said since Government paid all officers their settling in allowances, they should be made to explain why they have not moved their families to Choma in line with conditions attached to the payment of settling in allowance.

“I want to be humane enough. Let me have the names by Monday next week so that appropriate measures can be taken,” he said.

He said the relocation of the provincial administration from Livingstone to Choma is what the people of Southern province had been crying for since Independence.

Mr Munkombwe said President Michael Sata merely normalized an irregular situation in which the provincial headquarters was remotely located at the border.

“The people in the province have been crying to have Choma as the provincial headquarters and President Sata granted this wish. Why should these officers resist a well-intended move?”

Some police officers are reported to have claimed that the relocation exercise was not well executed as it should have been done after construction of police houses by government.

According to a story carry in Yesterday’s edition of the Post Newspaper, some police officers were not happy with the PF government over the manner the relocation exercise was done.

The affected officers are also said not to have moved their families to Choma on account of expensive rentals in the new provincial capital.