Allow police to work freely – GBM tells Kampyongo
By Staff Reporter
Opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) Vice president Geoffrey Mwamba has cautioned Home affairs minister Stephen Kampyongo to allow the police to conduct their work without undue interference from the PF government.
In a statement today, Mwamba said his party had enough of the gimmicks of interfering and using police to intimidate voters and opposition political parties, particularly during campaigns.
Mwamba said it was sad to note that political influence and interference in the police operations led to failure to defend the people as prescribed in the constitution.
“The police have instead been turned into a conveyance of law breaking. This is an assault on human dignity by an institution mandated to instill law and order in the country. This has further led to electoral conflicts whenever we have elections in Zambia. Without respect for Human rights, police officers cannot be effective or professional in their approach to preventing crime and maintaining public order,” said Mwamba.
He said respect for human rights was important while elections must be conducted in a free and fair environment where voters are guaranteed of their freedoms.
“To Inspector General, Kakoma Kanganja, we call on you to take charge as a professional and ensure your police help create a peaceful environment for voters to freely express themselves without any inducement and manipulation from the PF. We shall hold police accountable as a source of electoral-conflict should you allow politicians who are ignorant to issue directives that you know are unlawful,” he said
Mwamba has challenged the police to stop making decisions for the sake of safe-guarding their jobs.
“Ensure that your officers are professional in their personal appearance and not masked so that they are approachable and accessible to voters and candidates during elections,” he said
