By MOFFAT CHAZINGWA –

PREPARATIONS for this year’s Mutomboko Ceremony of the Lunda people of Mwata Kazembe slated for this Saturday, are well underway with Government leaving nothing to chance to ensure the event is a success.
Luapula Province Permanent Secretary Chanda Kasolo said like always, Government came on board and provided a budgetary allocation of more than K160, 000 in support of the successful staging of the
ceremony in Mwansabombwe District.
Mr Kasolo, who was giving an update on the preparations for the ceremony, said in an interview in Mansa yesterday that Government expected a record crowd during this year’s Mutomboko Ceremony.
“This is the first of the bigger ceremonies in the province and we expect to have a record crowd this year compared to the previous years.
“As Government, we have provided support in terms of material and other logistics because we view the ceremony as a major tourist attraction and important to note is that attached to it is the major Kazembe Village itself which is the largest in this side of the region in Africa with about 10, 000 households,” Mr Kasolo said.
He said as a way of ensuring the peaceful hosting of the ceremony, Government had arranged the deployment of extra police personnel to guarantee the safety of all participants including tourists.
The permanent secretary, who on Tuesday inspected preparatory works in Mwansabombwe, said all the major roads were being graded by the Road Rural Unit and that the rehabilitation of the main arena was almost complete.
“On the part of Government, we have put everything in place to ensure the ceremony is a success,” Mr Kasolo said.
He called on people from all walks of life, including opposition political parties to attend this year’s Mutomboko Ceremony, which served also as a uniting event as evidenced by the attendance of traditional rulers from various parts of the country including from the Democratic Republic of Congo.