Honesty, Integrity and Good Faith: Basic Qualities of a Good Police Service

By Sean Tembo – PeP President

1. Once a political party is voted into office and forms Government, it almost has unencumbered authority over the people. They’ll control the legislature through the Speaker, who decides how the business of the house must be conducted. They control the judiciary through the Chief Justice and sometimes the Minister of Justice, who is in the habit of leaning on individual judicial officers. And of course, they control the Executive which includes law enforcement agencies. Therefore, it is critical that the conduct of a Government must be based on honesty, integrity and good faith. But does the UPND administration possess these qualities? Or more specifically; does the Zambia Police Service posses the qualities of honesty, integrity and good faith?

2. With regard to the Executive arm of the UPND administration, the recent case of the 13 kidnapped girls has revelled to common citizens what some of us knew a long time ago; that law enforcement agencies under the New Dawn lack integrity and honesty. First of all, it is a well-documented fact that the girls were rescued when the kidnappers forgot to close the door and one of the girls seized the opportunity to jump over the fence and call for help from neighbors, who entered the kidnappers house and freed the girls, after which the police were called and they took about 50 minutes to get to the scene. We know this for a fact because we saw the videos which the rescuers took while in the kidnappers house and this version is further supported by one of the kidnappers who was interviewed after being arrested in Kaoma.

3. Initially the Zambia Police through the Inspector General of Police, Mr Lemmy Kajoba claimed that the rescue of the girls by neighbors coincided with the investigations which the police were doing, but yesterday Kajoba changed his position and claimed that it is only the Police who rescued the girls and that anyone else who claims to have rescued the girls risked being arrested!! Well, l have a few questions for Lemmy Kajoba; if it is the Police who rescued the girls and they were in control of the crime scene from the word go, then why did they allow the boys in the neighborhood to enter the crime scene and take videos which showed an empty coffin, among other things? What law enforcement agency in the whole world would allow such a contamination of the crime scene? Evidently, Lemmy Kajoba’s claim that the Police rescued the kidnapped girls and we’re in control of the crime scene from the word go lacks merit and is nothing but a desperate attempt by a shamelessly incompetent Inspector General of Police to get credit for a job that he failed to do for more than 6 months.

4. But something else was more worrying in Kajoba’s statement released yesterday. Kajoba says there are no other persons who came into contact with the kidnapped girls other than the two boys. This statement by Kajoba directly contradicts the version given by the girls as outlined in a News Diggers article a few days ago in which the girls said they were forced to drink tujilijili before being raped by as many as 8 men per night! If the girls themselves said they were raped by as many as 8 men per night, then why was Lemmy Kajoba quick to say that there were no other people involved other than the two boys that were arrested in Kaoma, even before police investigations are concluded? Who is Lemmy Kajoba trying to shield and why? Why is Lemmy Kajoba quick to issue threats of arrest to anyone who asks questions about this kidnapping? Why are the Zambia Police Service finding it difficult to be honest and transparent regarding this kidnapping case? Who are they protecting?

5. It is common knowledge across the world that kidnappers will commit their crime for the purpose of soliciting a ransom from the family of the victim, so there is always a commercial motive. But in this case, other than Pamela Chisumpa, the kidnappers are not on record to have reached out to the families of the other 12 girls to demand a ransom. However, they just kept their victims in bondage and fed them reasonably well as they did not appear malnourished. It is a common fact that those boys who were arrested in Kaoma are unemployed, so then the question is how and why did they feed a group of 13 adults for more than 6 months? Where did they get the money? If they were not caught, how much longer did they intend to keep the kidnapped girls? Indeed, these circumstances indicate the possibility of other people being involved in this kidnapping. And yet Lemmy Kajoba was very quick to announce that only the two boys were involved, and that if anyone asks questions they risk being arrested! I ask again; who is Lemmy Kajoba trying to protect?

6. The more troubling part of the situation at hand is that as Inspector General of the Zambia Police Service, Mr Lemmy Kajoba only has one boss; the President of the Republic of Zambia, His Excellency Mr. Hakainde Hichilema. Therefore, if Lemmy Kajoba is trying to do a police cover up regarding this case of the 13 kidnapped girls, he can only do it either with the permission of or under the instructions of the President of the Republic of Zambia. Speaking of the President, why hasn’t His Excellency not issued any statement to express his joy over the recovery of the 13 kidnapped girls? Why the loud silence from State House? Or if the President has been very busy, why couldn’t he instruct his Spokesperson Mr. Anthony Bwalya to issue a statement to express the President’s joy at the safe recovery of the 13 kidnapped girls? Or is it that the President is unhappy that the 13 kidnapped girls were rescued? If the President is unhappy, then why is he unhappy?