By Daily Nation Reporter
My government’s crusade against corruption should not be mistaken for an ethnic fight and there shall be no sacred cows, President Hakainde Hichilema has said.
And the President has reiterated that no one should be detained for more than 48 hours on a bailable offense and that where possible, police bond should be given.
“I want officers to adhere to the following; no person or suspect should be detained for more than 48 hours if their offence is bailable as it is infringement of their fundamental rights. Let citizens be taken to court within 48 hours. Where the law allows, members of the society who come in conflict with the law should be given police bond,” President Hichilema said.
“Police officers should not rush to make arrests before undertaking conclusive investigation otherwise you will have too many wrong people in detention centres when they should be out producing goods and services. People are complaining that the police are slow in arresting fellow community members, quiet strange. Do not misread my statement to mean don’t enforce the law. You have to enforce the law,” he said.
He said the fight was multisectoral in the sense that no one sinned on behalf of their ethnic groups because we were all simply Zambian citizens without being marginalized.
President Hakainde Hichilema also said in any decent country law enforcement had to be done within the legal framework.
“Corruption of all forms will not be condoned and there will be no sacred cows in the fight against corruption past, present and future and all those that will be found wanting will be prosecuted,’’ he said.
Speaking when he officiated at the Pass-Out parade of 1341 Police recruits at Lilayi Police Training College, President Hichilema said government was determined to develop a robust security system.
He said to achieve this, there was need for an adequately trained police service that was professional and dedicated to service.
“Law enforcement is one side of the coin, but doing it with respect and professionalism is the other side of the coin. An ordinary coin has two sides so let us carry the two as a package,” President Hichilema said.
“These are prerequisites to the democratic tenants and dispensation of good governance in any decent country.”
President Hichilema said the days of over bearing political influence on the operations of the police service which undermined its authority, were long gone.
He said police had lost the public trust and that it was imperative for them to work hard and diligently to regain it.
And President Hichilema said his government will not tolerate any form of corruption including collection of unofficial levies in form of bribes by police.
And President Hichilema said there was no ethnicity in his administration’s fight on graft.
“Under the new administration there shall be zero tolerance to corruption of all forms. That is why the economy plummeted to minus where we found it because corruption began to take all the resources meant for development. The police service must rise to this occasion,” he said
“And when we say, ‘corruption of all forms’ we include issue that may appear normal to a traffic officer to collect bribes from road users. There will be n sacred cow in the fight against corruption past, present and the future. Now inspector general of police, there is not ethnicity issues in the fight against corruption. There is no ethnicity issues in the fight against corruption. No one steals on behalf of a tribe. No one steals on behalf of an ethnic group, no! We are simply citizens of the 10 provinces of Zambia who must work and develop our country not to steal from the weak, the old and poor” he said.
And Home affairs minister Jack Mwiimbu warned the officers not to create headlines that portrayed disorderliness in the police service.
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