The Southern African Centre For Constructive Resolutions of Conflicts and Disputes SACCORD has called on the Zambia Police to efficiently carry out their mandate of maintaining law and order without being seen to be relegated to a secondary role by political cadres.
Speaking in an interview SACCORD Executive Director Boniface Cheembe said Zambia as a soverign country, Zambia has only one Police for maintaining law and order hence the trend which is slowly clipping into the country where political party cadres from both the ruling and opposition are dressing in regalia similar to Police uniforms is a danger to the peace and stability of the nation.
Mr Cheembe said the regalia is not only intimidating to the voters but that it is also scaring the general citizenry who have come to associate the regalia with political violence.
“Considering the fact that as a sovereign state we are governed by the rule of law and one aspect of that is to have one a law enforcement agency namely the Zambia Police which has a specific attire and ultimately provide security to all citizens regardless of their political affiliation. Therefore, we begin to see the role of the Zambia Police Service being relegated to a secondary role by political cadres we become concerned and question the extent at which security is likely to prevail in our country,” Mr Cheembe said.
And Mr Cheembe has implored the police to quickly disband militia groups being formed in the country by both the ruling PF and the opposition.
He said the accusations of militia groups being trained in political parties has gone both ways hence the Police should professionally investigate and disband the groups from both sides both the issue degenerates.
“Our call to the Zambia Police on the issue of arming militias in both the ruling party and the opposition is that they should treat the issue professionally and impartially. If at all there are militias in in both the ruling party and the opposition investigation should be undertaken and if found to be there, they should quickly be disbanded,” he said.
Tell them boss
Mr chamber has correctly identified a growing problem in Zambia, the erosion of Police power by Anarchists from UPND.
In Zambia we historically, have had, a Youth Wing supporting the Gov’t. That wing is legitimate and is relevant for inclusive empowerment of Youth in Zambia, to promote Democracy and include the Youth in Civil Duty. That is where Mr Chembe has erred. He has failed to identify the split in Youth participation from a historical point. Before Multiparty politics it was straightforward, they belonged to one party. Now wrongly opposition parties feel they can usurp this legal wing for their purpose.
The solution is to have revert to the 1 youth organisation whose sole duty is to support the gov’t and disband by strong Police action all other Youth from groups from…
The solution is to revert to the 1 youth organisation whose sole duty is to support the gov’t and disband by strong Police action all other Youth groups from Opposition Parties. They are nothing but trained Militia and engage in illegitimate actions because their Parties are not in power through democratic election and therefore cannot be legitimate. The Police must reign supreme in this matter. The gov’t must empower them and HE President Lungu must use language and action of Strong leadership without fear or favour.
The disbanded Youth can elect to do duty to their fellow citizens and support democratically elected causes. In the alternative, let’s send the arrested Youth to military camps where they can be ‘encouraged’ to do useful civil duty after a gruelling 3 months…
In the alternative, let’s send the arrested Youth to military camps where they can be ‘encouraged’ to do useful civil duty after a gruelling 3 months training regimen. I enjoyed my 3 months no reason why they should not. In this case lets keep them busy until Late August after elections have run.
I’m recommending the return of National Service to be clear. A regimen if civil training where discipline is metered. Not Military training complete with guns….heaven forfend.!!
Mr Cheembe has a point however, the message should be directed to the Commander in Chief and not the police. The Zambia Police on its own cannot disband these militias. The Cadres especially from the Ruling Party have become more powerful than the police on the ground that the Ruling Party seems to have created an impression that it would rather depend on their security wing than the Police. This breakdown of law and order must be arrested ASAP.
Well done Mr. Cheembe. I have equally been questioning the role of party cadres in a country whose security system in fully intact. Ironically, Lungu seemed to defend those on his party claiming to defenders of certain party members. This is giving his party an upperhand and unacceptable especially now that the country is heading to the elections. Lets have a common playing level.
@Patriot Abroad. Be an active PF cadre even after 11/08
chembe be real sir.look at your comment:Mr Cheembe has implored the police to quickly disband militia groups being formed in the country by both the ruling PF and the opposition. Dont you know the name of the opposition with banyamulenge?
tell this pfools,u hav spoken sir kip it up