Wed, 27 Sep 2017 12:14:19 +0000
FOR how long will Inspector-General of Police Kakoma Kanganja allow this unbridled failure in the Zambia Police Service to show some semblance of professionalism continue?
It is like the men and women in uniform on the ground are the law unto themselves oblivious to orders that have been put in place by their superiors.
Yesterday’s riots that broke out in Ndola cannot be blamed on anyone but the Police themselves. The unfortunate part is that an innocent youth died because police defied orders issued by their High Command.
That high speed chase in the city was uncalled for. We know for a fact that traffic police officers have been instructed not to chase after erring motorists on the roads because of the many deaths that have resulted from such acts.
High speed chases not only endanger the culprit, but even the police officers themselves. But above all, they also put at great risk the lives of the innocent.
The Ndola incident is the most typical example of the inherent dangers. Witnesses said the police officers were giving chase to a motorist who sped off and upon failing to negotiate a bend, hit into the boy who was at the famous Slave Tree selling eggs – and all hell broke loose.
Ndola Mayor Amon Chisenga who rushed to the accident scene ended up being caught up in the protest and had his vehicle shattered by people who were wielding stones. The protests spread to the entire business district resulting in shops and offices closing for business.
Was that really necessary?
If the police officers had acted in a responsible manner, that commotion in the city entre could not have occurred.
The bottom line though is that the entire episode might have started from one of those infamous road blocks for which traffic police officers are notorious for – all for wrong reasons – the wanton corruption that goes on with “spot” fines that do not go the Treasury but to individual officer’s wallets or purses.
Surely, we cannot allow a situation where the Zambia Police Service, despite the public’s outcry about their shortcomings, continue to behave as though all is well.
All is not well and it is time that the Police High Command took drastic steps to bring sanity to the rank and file within the Police Service. Failure to do so will lead to a complete breakdown of law and order.
Mr Kanganja must act and restore the public’s trust and respect that the Police Service have lost. The recent incident in Lusaka in which police officers traded punches with civilians in public do not endear the Service to the general citizenry.
Add that embarrassing spectacle to the many court acquittals and nolle prosequis of ”water tight cases” in which the Director of Public Prosecutions has been forced not to proceed because of the shoddy manner in which the investigattions were conducted.
The list is endless but we hope Mr Kanganja will trim it. He has no other choice.
