The decision by the State to enter a nolle prosequi in the case of musician, Pilato is an indictment on the Zambia Police over their unprofessional conduct in the discharge of their duties.
Arresting and prosecuting Pilato on frivolous and vexatious charges was not only a waste of the courts valuable time and scarce resources but a wanton abuse of The Judicial process by the PF in their spirited but futile attempt to silence any critic who dare expose their impotence and ineptitude in effectively managing the affairs of the state.
It is a shame that the Zambia Police have reduced themselves to nothing but a mere armed vigilante wing of the ruling PF. It is clear that from the onset, the police were acting on some misguided directives from some political hoodlums within the PF government to arrest Pilato. That is the more reason the Police failed to charge Pilato with any reasonable charge but came up with frolicsome charge of conduct likely to breach peace because the man had committed no crime. Instead of pursuing political gangsters who are shooting unarmed civilians, the police are busy arresting and intimidating innocent victims of Edgar Lungu’s myopic leadership.
In conclusion and as a way forward we urge Parliament to repeal and amend the Zambia Police Act to make it conform to the norms and practices of a democratic state. The Zambia Police Act in its current form is archaic and moribund and exposes the police to too much political interference and machinations.
Issued by:
Antonio Mwanza,
FDD Spokesperson.
What else do you expect from the police if the president himself is the commander in chief of all the armed forces. He appoints and fires all the service chiefs and they operate under his commands. What professionalism do one expect from the police if even a jiraboo like Kambwili can command the entire police to arrest or not to. Most of the police commanders and commissioners are political appointees and cadres therefore they work to please their masters. There is too much political enterfearence in the operations of the police service.
You know I am not PF. Awe naimwe Libongani has been very professional compared to those MMD’s commanders. MMD’s police were brutal, you remember how they used arrest Sata even on asking on fuel prices.
Those Police women have done a good job, Sata was wise to appoint them.. Those who try to show off like Ka Charity is because of being young, still get those monthly….
The police will always work with the party in government whether you like or not. Don’t fool yourself.
@Real. so you accept that? The police are supposed to be professional, period. I sympathise with the political pressure they have to succumb to. We all have to strive to make this country a better place. Imagine Kambwili instructing a neurosurgeon to operate on your brain! It is the same thing when they instruct police….
you are a useless pf cadre. how can you praise Libongani and Katanga. can they be compared to Efraim Mateyo
Young people across centuries have been agents of change.
I expected Stella at her age & with her education to show some amount of free thinking.
Of course she is limited by the Police act & the environment she finds herself in, but to a large extent she is a prisoner of her own conscience.
She is deeply in the sebena wikute culture.
Douglas Siakalima & Francis Kabonde were actually better cops.
Maybe, again just maybe, Dr Martin Malama would have transformed this PF (police force).
Douglas Siakalima was cop?? When was that?
I don’t deal with the Police Force (PF) unless I must. Otherwise PF is part of the tools of oppression against honest hardworking Zambians. PF are criminals in uniform masquerading as law enforcement.
The former top cop was Zunga Siakalima while Douglas Siakalima is former MP & now senior aide to HH.
Funny article. Like Obama said, you can put lip-stick on a pig, it’s still a pig.
So you can call these cops anything you like but they are still the vigilante wing of PF. That’s exactly what they are and they are going to behave likewise, whether we like it or not.