The Court had questioned the professionalism of the officers.
Police Spokesperson Esther Katongo says the four police officers who were the only State witnesses in the case in fact did a good job.
Ms. Katongo says this is because they were able to establish a prima facie case leading to the court finding Mr. Hichilema with a case to answer.
In an interview with QTV News by telephone, Ms. Katongo says the fact that the officers were able to establish a prima facie case it is also an indication that they did their best.
Ms. Katongo says she cannot however, comment on the ruling by the Lusaka Magistrate Court in which the professionalism of the Zambia Police was questioned.
She states that the Court is an independent body and therefore whatever judgment it made on the matter was according to what it had established.
As expected always defending her fellow cadres. Shame…!!
You need to do more Zambia police, how can one be a witness, complainant, and yet arresting officer at the same time? Miss Katongo better to stay quiet in some issues
If the PFolice do not agree with the Magistrate why don’t they appeal to the High Court? That’s what all complainants who don’t agree with a court decision do.
Did the PFolice seriously expect to be welcomed with pleasant words from HH after they spent 14 hours (from 21:00 till 11:00 the following day) trashing his home, stealing his food, money, vehicles, clothes, and defecating and urinating on his bed, and then repeatedly gassing him where he was hiding? Seriously?
they are pf police cadres.They are always drunk when they are executing their duties just like their master Chakolwa Lungu Kadansa…
This woman sure. Can the IG tame her from talking like this. It really shows that the police is now political party support wrongdoing of lungu. Madam this why the court forced him to apologize. The chap was caught lying and should have locked up. A wrong is a wrong so do not praise wrong doing. Further it shows the quality of service men and women we have. Very unprofessional. All these need to be flushed in the next five years
If I had a way of withholding my tax I would ensure that not a single ngwee is paid to *****s like this one and her kind,it hurts that the Government is spending to much public money on chasing after people they are scared of,if truly they are popular as they have been claiming for the last 5yrs why don’t they let that decision to the people of Zambia,why are they using state machinery to fight individuals.This wont bring development and as they fail they will probably need more space in their jails for many of us.
The learned lawyers put the police “dummies” in their place.
In a 100-metres dash with Mr. Bolt & others, we can comfort ourselves by saying our athlete in that race Mrs Katongo at least crossed the finishing line. So we did very well! BS!
@Nkhata bay very aptly put- BS!
The wise think to say would be that the Police Force will review what transpired in court and make an assessment as to whether we can review our training methodologies so that the Officers are well acquainted with the court procedural system, unlike just defending them from the courts concerns. Just my opinion.
However, it can be for the benefit of the Force and the country to re-train the Officers and include such training in the curriculum at Lilayi Training Center.
shame on police brutality and lies …..they are number one force defrauding the government from millions of non remitted road blocks fines they pocket every day.
Katongo according to you, you can even believe in rumours without any proven document, you better remain quite, how do you say the police officer did I great job, the one who told lies, apologizing to say for telling lies in court,for you its good job to tell lies, shame upon ZP zambwino palimbe ba pipo.
Katlego says the cops did a good job cos HH was found with a case to answer. So according to this Katongp is that all what those against HH wanted was to pin HH down even if it was thru a fabrication. So then the argument still stands out very clear that police did not show professionalism.
Aaah aah ati katlego.
Ba katongo just advise your police that before they tell someone uzakambila kusogolo, let them investigate first, uzakambila kusogolo is outdated, that time when you used to put people on kampelwa to extract information is long gone, you can’t have a conviction minus well documented evidence, that’s why you need a highly skilled forensic department.
Some people can be shameless. Katongo did you come up with this all statement or words were put in mouth by someone. Just thinking???
Ms. Katongo,
as your unfortunate comment apears to sujest that your proficiency in understanding English language fails well short of minimum requirement, please let me translate to you. The Hon. Magistrate qualified those three incompetent cadres vearing ZP uniform as
P aid
O fficial
L iars
I n
C ourt
E vidence
Shame on you for defending criminals in your ranks.
Of course they had lungus blessings the pwazis
@ Lombe, great submission. Keep up the good work, that is the way to go
Katongo is defending the indefensible. The Policemen who were State Witnesses destroyed the image and Reputation of ZPS. They performed very badly during Cross Examination. These Officers after so many years in Service still don’t understand the Law and Court Procedures. How can u have one Arresting Officer for all charges be a Complainant,A witnesses and Arresting Officer at the same time? Its unheard of and its better for Katongo to keep quiet and retrain the officers. These Officers put ZPS in disrepute and shame.
On the other hand, my advice to this police spokes person is to seek Brenda Muntemba’s advice on how to go about on this job. Police is not a political party that should respond to everything. just yesterday, i was listening to her saying, they have recorded close to 500 cases of burglary & thefts in the first quarter just in Lusaka alone. Is this a record to be happy with as police? when it come to combating crime, there are no policemen & women but there are plenty of police to go and raid one HH in the night. You guys can do a better job than u are right now
They go where they are assured of finding money, food and gadgets to steal.
Problem of employing the unemployable. Ms. Katongo, the best they did was shaming the quality of our Police service. If these were your best, then I am afraid we are in deep sh.it. Those are the result of employing uneducated cadres who will not use their brains but their a.sses to reason. Had your police force taken the trouble of looking for intelligent non cadres, your case would have seen the light of the day madame. Now we even your own professionalism is questionable.
Lt you are lucky you were born only yesterday. You could have been in a cage by now to allow your bloggers to insult the head of state with impunity.
Ba Katonga what are you defending? Your Police Men have become PF cadres for the sake of money including you whom Pf is using to become a PF Police vuvuzela. Emulate Linda Kasonde. Mama Mambilima has no powers to say anything because of bribes also. The love of money is the beginning of all evil.
Nyo nyo nyo nyo, why can’t this illiterate of vomit person not just keep her mouth shut? How dare she opens her dirty mouth and challenge that which cannot be challenged? The LEARNED MAGISTRATE stated facts at law and yet the drop outs are using instinct to justify anything they did not learn in six months they spent at Lilayi. I now agree that the dogs have come to this country, because the pattern is the same in Pa Fi mafi, responding to any reasonable observation in the negative, even when issues raised are beyond comprehension by the cadres making such responses. God of mercy, please come to our rescue!
iwe kakatongo shut up bakanyangu bwenu bwabupuba sana.
I have been saying time and time again these police officers can only get a conviction through intimidation leading to the suspect confessing. How many times have we heard judges lashing out at the police for failing to prove case in court. The recent acquittal in Ruth Mbandu,s case makes very sad reading were the police lamentably failed to investigate and bring evidence to court!
Something is seriously wrong with this police of nowadays. I have been questioning the IG and this one puts more questions on his ability to retain some credibility in the police service. Those 4 officers are an embarrassment to the very uniform they put on and the police service at large!!
Those police officers are a Hazard to society period. They need to be retrained to be professionals.
She is equally dull.
But how come you lost the case? Useless Police officers who failed to do their job in Mongu and instead descended on an innocent citizen! If HH used insulting language when you raided his beautiful residence a month ago, he did well. Any human being could have used abusive language going by the way you raided his home. Why have we reduced our country to such a level??
This police officer is representing his lairs who told the court lies and know here is their boss defending them at they have tried,tried what?to tell lies? shame
Zambia police
So it’s normal for the police to destroy HH’s house according to the police in Zambia, but the he react against the behavior he should be taken to court. It’s really a miss.
How can the police defend lies. It means people will be arrested for trumped up charges. Many examples are there. Garry Nkombo and others arrested for murder of PF and other cases
Who here would admit to being unprofessional and incompetent. Its her job to defend the police incompetence. Good job madam!!!!
The police are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. What do you donkeys know about legal terms and putting a suspect “on his defence”? It means THERE IS A CASE against the suspect otherwise the magistrate would have called it “no case to answer”. The least he could have done is convict and fine, but then he knew that it would set the scene for the treason case. Just look at some of the comments by UPNDonkeys, @22 says that it was to be expected that any normal human being could have insulted the police due to the manner in which he was arrested, that is a donkey admitting that he would be surprised if HH did not use insulting language. THERE IS certainly something fishy about that acquittal if HH was found with a case to answer.
Actually at first I wondered how well trained the magistrate is, then I…
……….Actually at first I wondered how well trained the magistrate is, then I remembered there are some professors whose thinking has disapppointed us. Is it possible that they went to the same school, if you know what I mean?
For the treason when HH is committed to the High court, we promise to give him a list of Judges to choose from, no faces, just names whose roots he can recognise.
We urge the State to appeal the case.