Thursday, March 28, 2024

Davies Mwila ‘offside’ on police parking lots ban-MMD

Share

file:A typical police Station in Lusaka with some vehicles parked for security reasons
file:A typical police Station in Lusaka with some vehicles parked for security reasons

The opposition MMD says directives by Home Affairs Minister Davies Mwila to ban the parking of private vehicles at police stations are outside the law.

MMD National Youth Secretary Bowman Lusambo has since cautioned Mr Mwila to desist from issuing instructions to the Zambia Police Service that are not backed by law.

Mr Lusambo advised Mr Mwila to acquaint himself with the law before misdirecting himself to avoid misleading the entire nation.

He explained the Zambia Police Service Amendment Act No. 14 of 1999 allows the police station to operate as a parking lot for safe keeping of vehicles and storage of vehicles found abandoned or unattended to in a public place.

He said the law allows the officer in charge to receive fees which shall be determined from time to time by the Inspector General of Police which form part of the government general revenue.

“Section 54 A of the Zambia Police Service Amendment Act of 1999 is very explicit. It says the Inspector General of Police may establish at a police station or police post a public storage space to be known as a Vehicle Parking Lot for safe keeping of vehicles and storage of vehicles found abandoned or unattended to in a public place,” Mr Lusambo said.

He added, “The same section provides that a person who has deposited a vehicle for safekeeping shall be charged a fee payable to the Officer in Charge of the particular station or post where the vehicle is kept.”

Mr Lusambo has also appealed to Mr Mwila to restrict his role to policy issues that meddling into the day to day running of the Zambia Police Service.

He said the Zambia Police Service is critically underfunded which has made operations of police stations and police posts challenging.

“The law is clear and Mr Mwila should just take time to read before he starts harassing innocent police officers who are merely implementing the law that the National Assembly passed.”

“As MMD, we passed that law and we believe it was well intentioned. If we have MPs breaking their own laws then we have a big problem. Police stations don’t receive adequate funding and monies generated from parking fees help with stationery, fuel and buying tissue at these police stations and posts,” he said.

38 COMMENTS

  1. I don’t c any sense why da minister cn ban parking of vehicles at da police stations,4 me its sumthng wit no value coz pipo park der vehicles 4 security reasons moreover during da night n durng da day vehicles at police statons they re no longer der.Reserve yr decision sir!!

  2. Lusambo is clearly misdirected here. The law is very clear and I quote… Zambia Police Service Amendment Act No. 14 of 1999 allows the police station to operate as a parking lot for safe keeping of vehicles and storage of vehicles found abandoned or unattended to in a public place…… end Quote!.. Does one really need to be a rocket scientist to interpret that? Lusambo stop the public display of ignorance.

    • Iwe the Great One, dont try to come out smart when you are a very dull chap. The ACT further goes to say, “you can deposit a motor vehicle for safe keeping at a fee”. What do you understand by that?

    • Finish the quote , after that He added, “The same section provides that a person who has deposited a vehicle for safekeeping shall be charged a fee payable to the Officer in Charge of the particular station or post where the vehicle is kept.” look it up

  3. Be realistic people of Zambia. What if all the resident of Chiwempala start parking vehicles at Chiwempala police station, what would happen??? Congestion, chaos etc.

    • but ulichipuba, its not every one who has no capacity to find safe places for parking. so let the few to park for safety

  4. I also support Lusambo though he has quoted the law wrongly. Mr mwila should understand that most houses in compounds don’t have roads were vehicles can pass to individual houses, so parking them at any nearest police is a good thing. Police also raise good amount of money which they should account for and put in good use unlike what is happening now. Mwila should not wake up from hospital with cannula and start to order police publicly its not right.Ubulwele bwatampa kufika ku brain nomba lol.

    • then why buy a car if you dont have parking? buy a house then a car. simple, you are the ones littering police stations, they look like pounds or recycle yards

  5. I think the Minister has nothing to do. What’s wrong with people parking their vehicles at the Police Stations for safety reasons? The Police has a lot of problems which the Minister needs to focus his attention on. Not ma rubbish yamene wayamba. Wasoba vocita? Personally, I will continue taking my car to the Police station. Last time thieves came at night and removed all the tyres from my car. That’s how I resolved to be parking at the police station.

  6. Bowman Lusambo, u r also one of those *****s who only regretably think after they have waffled. Learn to respect authority. U r not the police spokesperson. NO! And u r full of sh…t and malice. What the Minister is doing is commendable. Those fees whose collections you are supportin are not accounted for properly. The whole exercise is a recipe for corruption. So, learn to think before u mutter.

  7. Police stations are not scrap yards! Look at the number cars left at these stations that have mechanical faults or have been involved in accidents. Mwila is spot on with this directive our police stations have become an eye sore. If the police want to create car pounds let them do it properly with fences so that they don’t blight the stations.

    • That is the point the cadre is missing. Yes it was okay when there were very vehicles. To day ZP stations look like some junk yard. Besides you park the vehicle at ZP station at your own risk. In Kalulushi a police man took one of the parked vehicles for personal business and bashed it at the main station. Realising what he had done the office committed suicide and the owner lost out just like that. Yes it is law but common sense supersedes this law. It does not mean that just because you are MMD you should oppose even straight forward things.

  8. The Minister is dull, you don’t need to be told that, you just have to look at his face. Dull and dirty. If I were him in this shortest possible time, I would focus on studying and scrubbing off dirt.

  9. That is the point the cadre is missing. Yes it was okay when there were very FEW vehicles. To day ZP stations look like some junk yard. Besides you park the vehicle at ZP station at your own risk. In Kalulushi a police man took one of the parked vehicles for personal business and bashed it at the main station. Realising what he had done the office committed suicide and the owner lost out just like that. Yes it is law but common sense supersedes this law. It does not mean that just because you are MMD you should oppose even straight forward things.

  10. My take is that the Minister should discuss the matter with the IG and top Police Officers in privacy. After agreeing, then the IG can issue instructions on whatever has been agreed. Right now the Minister appears to be bulldozing his way leaving the IG stranded in the process.

  11. On this one Lusambo u are correct but I thought Hon. Mwila is your new partner with Nevers Mumba why didn’t you go to his house and advise him quietly. This Minister D. Mwila is one of those undermining Edgar Lungu and are scheming to form parrell alliance with MMD of NEVERS MUMBA to continue undermining PF and President Edgar Lungu. They are busy cheating Nevers Mumba that they will make him alliance candidate in 2016 not EL. So he is doing it deliberate to decampaign President EL, he wants the public to rise against the PF Govt of Edgar Lungu.

    • If you are in Zambia you can see the that ZP stations are an eye sore due the overcrowding of vehicles. Point taken that he should have discussed with IG instead of issuing that statement. But common sense here overrides the law Cadre Lusambo is citing.

    • @Bwana True Blue. How many IG’s are going to issue commands about this? These policemen just ignore them and everything continues as usual. Who accounts for the funds the raise and what are they used for? And how is this undermining the President? In fact ECL should be happy that his minister is working and not just lazing about. Also why do we always what the president to do everything for us?

    • Countdown thanks. Problem with the Zambians is that everything is politics. Am sure if say 2m jobs were created they would still find something bad and negative to say about it. These places look horrible. In fact there is no security at all because the night shift officers are always a sleep.

  12. It is difficult to drive into or clearly spot a police station especially in the evening due to the this same indiscriminate parking. Imagine a visitor in the night being trailed by suspected robbers and looking for a police station to quickly drive into. You would mistake some of these police stations for drinking places!!!

  13. Davies Mwila a grade 12 drop out,so honestly what one expect from such a person?people park cars at police stations for safety reasons!!!Mwila would just ordered the police officers to be accounting for money they collect than what he has done.there are a lot thieves around,hence people parking their cars at police.only damaged vehicles must be removed from police stations.Davies Mwila thinks if his house is safe,then even homes for all those who voted for his PF are safe,shocking!!!EDGAR LUNGU MUST CONTROL DULL MINISTERS LIKE DAVIES MWILA BEFORE PF LOSE POPULARITY!!!

    • Are you comfortable with the situation obtaining at Police Stations? May be you are not in Zambia. Personally, I wouldn’t vote out any Party on this account. May be you have issues with Davis. How does education come in? Even drop outs have a part to play just like Bill Gates and others. Here Law and Logic are at conflict. You cant park these vehicle which are now spilling onto the roads. Let PF lose popularity as long as they clean this mess

  14. The focus then should be promoting accountability in terms of how the funds realized through this are used. What the minister should have said is that people should always be given receipts after parking a vehicle at the police station. In addition anything bought by the police using the resulting funds should be accompanied by a receipt. As such auditors can try to reconcile revenue and expenditure. It’s that simple. Only that you may need another small team to move around at an unpredictable intervals checking vehicles randomly to ensure compliance. This system can be a good source of income for police stations. Surely some ministers need a bit of business mindedness

  15. The Minister is right. People should not park at Police stations, fee or no fee. Let them make alternative arrangements. We need order. And for those of you who want to politicize everything,please be realistic and objective.

  16. He is deliberately murking things up this Lusambo guy: The law allows the police stations to be “a parking lot for safe keeping of vehicles and storage of vehicles found abandoned or unattended to in a public place.” This doesnt mean I can go and park my unabandoned vehicle there. This I think is what Mwila is trying to ban

  17. i think i will be giving my car to my sister police so that she can park it in her name at the police,kaili ninshi she is on duty with it. kikikikikikiki. next order Hon. Mwila please

  18. Yes among the grade 12 you find clever and intelligent ones. Its not always that when you have a PHD then you are clever if anything, there are as well f00ls among the so called educated. So lets not always rush to education. Wisdom is distributed across the board. You may ask, the education level of those that always insult people in leaders. By the way, comments posted here shows the mediocrity of a person calibre.

  19. cadre minister!!!!…please lets not use words that we do not know the meaning very well. Cadre does not mean uneducated or a f00l. neither does cadre only applies to politics. Word cadre can be used in may ways. Infact, those that insult others because they belong to political parties that they do not support are the WORST ignorant CADRES. So lets not expose our ignorance here.

  20. Jst let the police remove Vehicles tht r damaged or with serious Mechanical fault so tht stations don’t become like scrap metal dump site. The packing of vehicles for security safety must be there coz its law tht stated.

Comments are closed.

Read more

Local News

Discover more from Lusaka Times-Zambia's Leading Online News Site - LusakaTimes.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading