By Bennie Mundando
POLICE officers are mandated to maintain law and order and is therefore imperative for every citizen to respect them, Lusaka Province Patriotic Front (PF) secretary Kennedy Kamba has said.
Commenting on the barrage of attacks directed towards the police after the arrest of National Democratic Congress (NDC) president Chishimba Kambwili’s wife, Carol, and her daughter Chanda, Mr. Kamba said Zambia, being a democracy and a country of laws, has laid down procedures of handling matters including police officers if they misconduct themselves.
He says no one is above the law and that no one can take the law into his hands but that the party in Lusaka is saddened that the police today are being called all sorts of names for arresting Ms. Kambwili and her daughter.
He says the PF never wish misfortune to befall anyone and that what happened at court was very unfortunate but that before condemning the police entirely, citizens must look at issues objectively.
“We know very well that emotions were high, the Kambwili family is going through hard times following the conviction of Mr. Kambwili by the courts of law, but slapping a police officer at the magistrate courts was way beyond the limit. In our culture we respect women and the dignity of Mrs. Kambwili and her daughter must be respected at all costs.
“She is our mother just like all other women. However, slapping a police officer was a serious offence. We wish she never did that. We further want to appeal to the opposition to be fair with the police and look at this matter objectively,” Mr. Kamba said.
He says sometime back, PF cadres were beaten up and manhandled by the police at the Magistrate Court when they went to offer solidarity to Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya and that everyone was congratulating them.
“Now that it suits them, they want to make the police service look like it is the biggest monster. This is unfair to the police service. We had a meeting with the police and the opposition UPND had a similar privilege where many issues to do with respecting the officers of the law were discussed. The police and the law must be respected regardless of the perpetrator of lawlessness.
“We appeal to political commentators not to drag President Edgar Lungu or the PF in the court cases Mr. Kambwili is facing. Mr. Kambwili is in conflict with the law and not the PF or President Lungu. His case should not be politicised and President Lungu or the PF has nothing to do with it,” he said.
