The government has with immediate effect banned political party cadres from escorting their leaders when they are appearing for questioning at any police station.
This follows the fracas that characterised the arrest of Mr Hichilema for allegedly defaming President Michael Sata.
In a statement made available to the media today, Home Affairs Minister Edgar Lungu directed police to investigate thoroughly and bring to book suspected UPND cadres who assaulted a police officer Adam Banda at Woodlands police station.
“This is not only hooliganism but also thuggery,” Mr Lungu said.
Unruly UPND cadres on Thursday turned Woodlands Police station into a battle ground and severely injured Mr Banda during the arrest of their leader.
Mr Hichilema was arrested for allegedly uttering a defamatory statement against Mr Sata during a tour of Kalikiliki Market recently.
Mr Lungu said the escort by party cadres or a mob was banned because it was a recipe for causing unruly behaviour and anarchy.
He advised any summoned person by police to only be escorted by a lawyer of their choice if they opted for one.
[pullquote]“However, using their discretion, the officer in charge will allow the person summoned to be accompanied by their spouse or relative,” Mr Lungu said.[/pullquote]
“However, using their discretion, the officer in charge will allow the person summoned to be accompanied by their spouse or relative,” Mr Lungu said.
He said the ministry would not sit idle by seeing the culture of anarchy prevail and become the order of the day.
“I am charged with the responsibility of ensuring that law and order in the nation is maintained and I will do just that,” he said.
He warned that his ministry would not take things lightly or kindly with anybody who interfered with the operations of police officers in the course of their duties.
In the case of suspected UPND cadres’s behaviour, Mr Lungu said, it was unacceptable and inhumane for the cadres to go to an extent of hitting an innocent police officer with a brick in the head.
He said the assault of the police officer by the unruly suspected UPND cadres was regrettable and made sad reading.
He said police should expedite investigations in the matter and bring to book all the culprits.
Mr Banda sustained a deep cut and bled profusely as the opposition leader pleaded with his supporters to be peaceful.
Why didn’t you act when Winter Kabimba was invited by the ACC…..you a not serious!! chiwamila Galu kuluma Mbuzi not Mbuzi kuluma galu!!!
did winter’s cadres hit any1 including your mbuya with a brick? dalo chap! the directive affects everybody including anyoko…..cant u get this?
Truly
The fact there was no violence when Winter went to ACC offices even though this was also wrong. In fact this action is long over due!!
what summer kabimba did was equaly wrong. when you are in power why go with cadres, thats “oposition mentality” which PF need to change. Please, you need to believe that “ala tuleteka”. On HH, all these court cases, you are just turning him into politician (very very soon he will be nolonger be under 5). Pls, stop, some of these petty case you just need to ignore them and dont give him coverage in all media (that way, what he says in Kalikiliki market will remain in Kalikiliki, but the way you are handling this, even me who was not there, now know what he said). Pls, lets became a mature gorvening party we voted for
The reason why there was no violence when Wynter Kabimba went to ACC was because police officers were afraid of even touching the cadres unlike HH’s cadres who they have identified as soft targets. Let’s be fair even if we do not support HH. As people who supported Michael Sata in the past, we are dissappointed with these double standards. Kwati ni MMD sure!
lekeni ichongo bafikala when wynter did that bonse mwaikele quiet kano nga ebo!!!!! nomba kwashala ukuponona imwe !
If kabimba was wrong,as u put it.then ba lungu has done the rite thing,tho no one was hurt and bleeding in his case.
So you your opinion whatever Kabimba does should become law and go un-challenged for all of eternity?
Let Mr Kabimba lead by EXAMPLE
Ubuteko bwa fiwelewele! Ifinangwa! Fyafilwo kuteko.
Its sad news to hear but the police should be professional when handling such issues.I was shocked to see how they were behaving in return.
But what do you expect them to do when facing an unprofessional opponent, in tihs case, a government they ought to be facing. On crimes that do not exist. The irony is that the minister of justice started this all.
Where the rule of law ends, the rule of the brick starts.
This is total hypocrisy, this government is taking people for ride. The statement this Minister has issued sharply criticizes the president’s stand. The stupidity shown earlier by Kabimba should have been condemned by this guy and the president. Ati kano nganimwebo eh!!!
chiwamila galu ku luma mbuzi!!
i have never seen such a bunch of i.diots in govt,this drunken master ddnt see how that cadre called kabimba went to ACC with cadres and threaten people?this govt is a joke!
The police should not become involved in politics in the first place!! Why have police become party cadres. They need to be removing criminals from our streets instead of harassing politicians. It is not the work of police to interprete political statements made by politicians. Police are supposed to arrest individuals with warrants and after a court has told them to do so. They must not get instructions from politicians who to arrest. That is unconstitutional
You are spot on, I wish they could read this .
Well said!!
Zambia the 4th world. All the Ban this ban that will catch up with you guys when you are in opposition. Even going to the toilet will soon be an offence for political leaders in the opposition.
Well, if that is what the constitution says, we will do so BUT if not, sorry, you will see more of that except you die of alcohol earlier than then.
I look forward to the next government to do the following on their first day:
1.Arrest Sata for all his abuse of power, corruption & bringing satanism & killing of innocent Zambians which stopped in the KK era.
2.Revert to the previous Basic Education system
3.Revert to English as a medium in our Primary school system as it has been since we were born
4. Arrest DPP Mutembo Nchito & Post Newspaper Mmembe for the money they stole.
5. Arrest Finance Minister Chikwanda and Sata’s son Deputy mayor for Lusaka for their involvement in corruption State House tenders & Mulenga’s stolen money.
6. Arrest Wynter Kabimba, Namugala, Nawakwi, Gabriel Namulambe, Masumba for corruption.
**All the above can be brought forward if we Zambians have a person like Mwamba Luchembe then we can enjoy…
Hipocrisy at it’s best. All the cards HH is playing today are from Sata’s book.Everything HH is doing today Sata did when Levy Mwanawasa and Rupiah Banda were presidents. The man said all sorts of defamatory stuff,especially against Levy Mwanawasa,and went unpunished on several occasions. My memory is still fresh on how he made fun of Mwanawasa’s illness,how he called him Cabbage,how he announced to the world that Mwanawasa was going to die before his term finished and the list goes on. Now today he’s been given the test of his own medicine and can’t handle the bitterness of it.
Iwe chi Lungu..your bloody f@ckn police and GVT were and are unruly in the first place.You equally have no brain.i thought youre educated but your PHD seems to be from the dust bin
WHY HAVE AN ALCOHOLIC FOR A MINISTER.ARE THERE NO SANE ZAMBIANS SURELY?
We Zambian people will enjoy our freedom without Dictator Sata & his satanism, only when Sata is gotten rid of through whatever way that may work. Whatever way may be sufficient to guard our hard won peace in Southern Africa.
Surely i thought Chanda Chimba III prophesy will never come to pass but all what Chanda Chimba said about Sata has come to pass, to make matters worse, this evil Sata is even worse off than Chimba III prophesied!
I have admiration for the people who inverted the BEACON that misled the plane that late Samora Machel of Mozambique used, when coming from Zambia in October 19, 1986?
Can Zambians be luck like in Mozambiaque to find a BEACON just for us to have PEACE?
Immediately Samora Machel died in the plane crash did peace come in Mozambique…
Just what am writing now is making all State House move! You can imagine their fear, desperation, anger & agitation just to find where all these small thing is coming from. They may end up spending and worsting billions of kwacha just because of their fear.
Is the childish ka Chellah at State House trying to coordinate with my brothers at SHUSHUSHU?
I love my gallant brothers and sisters at the Red Brick because they helped to bring down Kaunda’s evil autocratic Dictatorship by leaking important leads to Zambians.
Kaunda wouldn’t listen to the SHUSHUSHU’S advise each time they speak their mind, the next time it is either they are retired in the nation’s interest or get involved in unknown accidents just because Kaunda like PF Sata & his cohorts were living in fear!
God…
Police officers at woodlands do not know that Adam Banda chap who was bricked. He is a shushushu and thats how they bricked him thinking he was a UPND cadre.
back to the story, is Mr Kabimba going to appear at ACC without cadres?
Nope. No with cadres and will not appear. Issue has been closed “sine die”
In just a little over a year so much to talk about happenned such as this one. Oh i can say is chiwamina beve, chibootela mbabo, kanonga ebo and all animals are equal but some animals are more than others. Or its like being raised by step mom where she allows her biological children to sturff but the step kids cant do wat her bio kids do “apatulua.”
Fair enough.It is about time.Way to go
Why have you not condoned off police stations, made them out of bounds to mobs? A police station is a work place just like any other working environment. Police officers need silence. Some of them are busy compiling notes for prosecution, analyzing cases, attending to complaints etc.. They need a peace of mind. GBM went there alone! Why do you allow Kabimba, the Pastor or HH to go there with a mass of escorts?
You are lucky, Zambia is endowed with stones. We play with guns here in RSA and the USA. Otherwise Banda would have been history!!!
You forgot to add ‘and busy inventing new offences to charge opposition members’ just to please the ruling party.
Ba UPND niba mposa mabwe ba mumbwe
They taught u good manners obe shi PF cadre.
Alola Chella, ya shani, where is your response? are you going to call this cheap politicking and ignore foolishness like chasing around HH and Mumba as though they are the biggest problems in Zambia.
Is there a law in Zambia that allows Ministers to wake up every day and issue orders to the police? Can the minister of health then wake up one day and issue an order to ban the use of penicillin in hospitals in preference to an alternative of his choice.Can the Minister of Transport wake up and issue an order for all cars in Zambia to be painted red?Please Lawyers educate us.
I blame the police for that fracas. they were playing the nice friendly cops. you got the test of your own medicine. word of advice treat all political offenders as treason case. no matter how petty the charge. u are dealing with frustrated, power hungry, good for nothing chaps. i wish we cud train our cops in Russia. HH knows dat he will get away withe case with his stream of lawyers. he irritately cause trouble. cage him on a friday where he cant be bailed or bonded. let those boys in there discipline. he will a good fella.
Trash.
The ACC gave in under pressure from Kabimba’s kaponyas. The sheer number of bouncer ruffians and women who accompanied me last time intimidated the police officers. Out of fear, they had to let me use a kaponya with no fixed abode to sign as surety for my police bond!
Wynter supporters were not vilent like the UPND thugs so please dont compare the two.What Lungu is said covered evrybody be it PF,MMD,UPND or my small party I am forming this year!!
Sir, let them come with their miscreants, what we should do is to put 10000m distance (barrier) between them and our offices where their stones cannot reach us.
ali dizzy beer man. He not in right frame of mind. how do you expect him to make right dicision
ok instead of using bricks let the cadres use eggs and tomatos to pelt at police. and let cops put on proper gear. you cant stop but you can only manage confrontations. its part of democracy nosense.
lungu is yet to fired by sata
LUNGU TO BE FIRED SOON FOR MISLEADING THE PUBLIC
No. Hi shall be promoted.
so he is admitting that the police are incompetent to handle such small crowds?
FOR THE ENTIRE POLICE FORCE IS TIRED TO BE GETTING POLITICAL INSTRUCTIONS TO OPPRESS THE OPPOSITION IN ZAMBIA
PF are failurers, they don’t want to be reminded, very evil people and danger to democracy and good governance. sata wawaaaa
viva hakainde hichilema,,H.H FOR PRESIDENT..VERY CIVIL MAN
YES H.H IS MUCH BETTER THAN BA TEKA BA SATA…DUE THE FACTS THAT H.H IS EXPOSED EDUCATION WISE.
@33, which education has this scumbag HH has? If indeed he has, he must ve forgotten all he learnt at school. What has he done to show for it coz he is the most haples human being.
Ve just been reminded that he has PHd in thuggery, bitterness and frustration.
Please PF bring back the para paras from Kamfinsa like it was back in the days. There will be law and order in the country again. There was never such nonsense during KK’s time. Zambians need a police state in order to function or behave like civilised human beings do. Give them some freedom they will abuse it like we are seeing. If you tighten law enforcement they will complain.
Bwana Looks drunkly quaffed. bet he said it under the influence.
You can take the PF party out of violence but you cannot take the violence out of them. The next person to run our beloved Zambia should start now building a case against these thugs so we don’t waste anymore tax payers money pursuing them in court for their injustice. We have come a long way only for Zambia to go backwards within a short space of time. Do these PF ministers really believe Zambians are that stupid that you can just throw anything at them? They are now spending time trying to fix the laws of the jungle introduced to our young democracy by their own leader. Next they will start killing the opposition leaders and start blaming criminals.
OPPOSITION POLITICAL PARTIES’ SUPPORTERS ALWAYS ESCORT YOUR LEADERS EVERYTIME THEY ARE SUMMONED BY THE POLICE AND OTHER INVESTIGATNG GOVT WING,,PLS BE WITH THEM ALWAYS,,SATA IS NOT TRUSTED AS AT NOW.. KEEP WATCHING.
SATA DOES NOT CARE ABOUT OUR COUNTRY’S DEVELOPMENT..BECAUSE HE IS VERY SATISFIED ALOT AS FROM COLONIAL TIME, UNIP, MMD, NOW IN CORRUPT PF AS THE HEAD…BANE LETS US FIGHT FOR OUR CHILDREN NOW,,,SATA NAI KUTA.
Ka minister aka kwati kalenunsha pamafi.hahaha!!!
This business of going to the police with cadres has been going on especially with HH even before Kabimba did it. The bottom line is it doesn’t matter who is doing it, it’s wrong period! Good move and this has been long overdue. Let’s see how they will handle themselves when they are questioned alone, after all whatever charges are brought against them are directed at them as individuals not the parties. Foolish cadres!
Bane are seeing some effects of the rebased kwacha.Fintu fyaladula pantu banono bapokelela nga wabapela ama coin,now people are trying to adjust their prices to 2 KR.
Our economy will be affected.
I hope we won’t see more price hikes everywhere. PF government will not know which commodity to control next.