A Clergyman has called on politicians in the country to stop blaming the police for enforcing the Public Order Act because it is not the police who enacted it.
Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia Board Member Rev Aaron Chilujinka has said that politicians should stop blaming their failure to repeal the Act on the police who just enforce it.
He said it is not the duty of the police to change the POA but politicians who fail to repeal the law in parliament.
Rev Chilujinka who was featuring on 5FM’s the Burning Issue radio program together with ruling PF aspirant for Kasama Central Kelvin Sampa and opposition UPND aspirant for Kafue Saboi Imboela said it will be prudent for political players to push for the repealing of the Act instead of blaming the police.
He said whether bad or good the police have the duty to enforce the law hence should not be blamed for doing their job.
He said the Republican President swears to uphold the law and one of the laws he swears to uphold is the POA hence politicians should not cry but rather act to repeal the Act.
And UPND aspiring candidate for Kafue Saboi Imboela said the party in government does not want to repeal the Act because it works for them.
She said the PF had back tracked on their promise to repeal the Act which they promised to do when they were in opposition and are now using the same law against the opposition especially the UPND.
She said the violence towards the UPND from the PF had escalated and that the church should try to help by talking against the violence.
She said the PF are throwing insults at the opposition at will but that the Church has not acted like they used to act when PF was at the receiving end of the insults and violence from the then ruling party MMD.
She said if the violence continues the opposition will be forced to react as it is within the rights to defend themselves.
Meanwhile Kelvin Sampa the Kasama Central aspirant on the PF ticket refuted claims that the ruling party was perpetrating violence.
He said there might have been pockets of violence in same places but that the PF is a peaceful party and does not encourage violence from members.
Mr Sampa said violence should be condemned regardless of who is the perpetrator and that political leaders should assume responsibility of the actions of their cadres.
POA must stay. Zambia is a country full of unruly passions and unbridled, untethered human ambitions. Mostly to be President, by Hook or Crook.
We need a rod, to burch those in whom the Savage heart still beats. Civilised society must be protected.
I think the clergy man missed the point. We in the new, August 2016 govt, UPND – are complaining about the selective application of the POA. The PF are abusing the police and the POA to only work on their side. This is silly and it has to be brought to a screeching end this August!
What will you have in place to deal with problems on society that have been brought in by the process of Multi Party Politics? There is too much Partisan Crime in Zambia. Large mobilisations of people for partisan ambitions. This fact is part of the progress in Democracy. We must have a little extra to counter these types of violence a. By the by, does your party intend to seek the peoples permission to do so? People may wish the gov’t 2016 onwards to still have this tool to protect citizens from the excesses of politicians.
The Reverand should be neutral and advocate for Justice like Martin Luther King and learn from Developed countries and advocate for the same standards. This same POA was a little better under MMD, what are his comments.
@Patriot Abroad
The solution is eradicating unemployment.
Elevate the youth’s self worth through education, small business development, and employment. Engage the youths in productive ventures.
@Synaptic, I agree wholeheartedly. Those should be our concerns. PF have demonstrated they understand and diligently pushed those programmes within the capacity of our GDP and Borrowing and Investment inputs from abroad.
There is no need to change gov’t currently. The POA is good to stay to order society. It’s nothing to vote put PF.
WHICH ONE IS LAW? POA OR BRIDGE OF THE ZAMBIAN WRITTEN CONSTITUTION WHICH GOVERNS THE NATION?
The problem with some churchmen is they want to comment even on issues they do not understand. Rev. spare us these boring running commentary. we know you do not believe in what you are saying. Only that, what to do? you do not have food. sebana wikute is not good for you sir.
As for me, I just want this Zambia broken up. The one Zambia one nation is a heap of nonsense.
@patriot, you are the same pipo who used to complain about POA when yo pf was in opposition. Now because u are in power and using it to victimize the opposition you say it is ok. That is skank man!
The US ‘Patriot Act’ is worse than the Zambian POA. There is nothing wrong with the Zambian POA, but Zambia Police do not understand it and those who have been bad done by it have not realised their power to sue the Attorney General because they have no money. Rich UPND has remained largely unscathed by this because the state knows that it has financial muscle to sue.
Someone has sited the US. The difference is there laws are not selective (unless of course its a white cop shooting a black kid). We have seen governors, congress people, mayors from both sides of the political divide being dragged before the law. Nixon was made to run out of the WH over watergate. Clinton survived by the skin of his nose over the Lewinsky scandal. Point being if our police were independent & applying the law fairly the POA would have been off our statute books a long time ago.
I think we continue to miss the point here. The POA, good or bad, could only be applied fairly if we had an independent professional police service. Once again politicians have dribbled the people and avoided the most important changes to the constitution. Without reducing the president ‘s power over the police, in particular over the IG, we are headed for trouble. Unfortunately, everyone continues to blame the police who are in fear of losing their jobs. The current IG is a case in point. He was personally picked by the chief drunkard to act as a servant of the PF. Wake up and smell the coffee!