OUR POLICE WILL NOT CHANGE FOR THE BETTER

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 11:04:14 +0000

Dear Editor,

A lot has been said about our almost dysfunctional police and the situation appears to be getting a lot worse by the day.

First and foremost, nothing much will change the police for now because the majority of officers hail from areas which are solidly behind opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema of UPND.

And it is the same police officers (prosecutors) who ultimately become magistrates hence lately we have been blitzed with nolles and acquittals. Really shameful!

With this picture, how does one expect our police to be unprejudiced and let alone professional because their perceived number one enemy is PF and its top leadership.

The whole idea, in my view, is to paint Zambia, especially to the outside world that people are randomly being arrested for doing nothing wrong or for their political affiliation and in this case for belonging to  opposition UPND.

At the end when they are taken to courts the biased magistrates are probably paid to do the needful. The cycle then repeats itself.

And this is what HH badly wants, to portray Zambia as a failed State where citizens are being arrested daily for no apparent reasons. And it is working perfectly well so far.

For me and for now the only police I see is the ferocious traffic section where officers are never a damp squib.

They often come in vans and seen mercilessly attacking the poor mini buses and acutely fleece money from the crews for their own pockets. This is an open secret. But you should see them in action. Quite a marvel to watch indeed.

Ask anybody who knows our police corruption index. It is there in many reports.

So as matters stand today we can in one piece forget about our police service until a solicitous overhaul is undertaken-don’t know when!

Jay Kabemba, LUSAKA