Copperbelt Province Police Commissioner Mary Tembo has been implicated in a land grabbing scandal from a Ndola rural widow.
According to sources, Tembo is alleged to have obtained the land from a widow named, Mrs. Longwe of Mukolwe village in Ndola rural’s Masaiti area and intimidated her if she ever attempted to resist.
Tembo is reported to have used her senior position in the Police Service to throw her weight around and intimidate the government officials as well as prevail over the local chief in order to obtain the land.
The source disclosed that as one of adult children of the widow attempted to resist the grabbing of land, he was slapped with tramp-up charges and thrown in police cells where he languished before being released. The source said this was an attempt to intimidate Mrs Longwe.
Masaiti District Commissioner Joseph Mwambana has confirmed the land wrangle and expressed disappointment at the incident.
Mwambana said the Police Commissioner is a beneficiary of Mrs Longwe’s land. He said he has been trying to engage the chief in the area to find a way of surrendring the land back to the bonafide owner and hopes justice will prevail.
“I have also written to the Provincial Local Government Officer and the Permanent Secretary but I have not made a follow up since then because I have been unwell for the last two weeks. I will now make the necessary follow ups now that I am okay,” he said.
When the issue was put to Tembo, she made strong denials of the land wrangle in which she is directly implicated.
Tembo said the only land she owns is in Lusaka West where she has built a house and not anywhere in Ndola.
“I don’t own any land in Ndola as you know I came here last year. I spend most of my times in the office. When I came here I have been handling issues to do with land for people of this area. Now can it doesn’t make sense that I can also be part of the problem by grabbing land when I try to provide a solution for them?” she asked.
The post Copperbelt Police Chief in Land Scandal appeared first on Zambia Reports.