Government Denies It Spent US$700,000 On Police Bikes

The government has denied rumours and news stories alleging it spent US$700,000 to purchase 1,000 bicycles for the Zambia Police Service. 

Photos showing a female police officer on one of the new bicycles have been circulating on social media, with some bloggers estimating that the government spent US$ on each of the bikes.  

But spokesman for the ministry of home affairs, Nephus Chifutam has said the stories are deliberately misleading. 

“The accurate information is that these bicycles were a donation by the Government of Japan to the Zambia Police Service to facilitate policing in places that cannot be accessed using motor vehicles,” he said.

The bikes have since been distributed to police precincts in all provinces to enable victim unit officers and other specialised units to carry out sensitisation programmes. 

Mr Chifutam has wanted Zambians of the dangers of such fake news stories, urging social media users to ignore potentially misleading stories. 

“We wish to warn individuals and cliques with the habit of posting false and malicious articles on social media to desist from the practise as the act amounts to criminality,” he said. 

One of the photographs circulating on social media