Police Shake-Up Confirms PF Murdered Civilians - UPND
United Party for National Development secretary general Stephen Katuka has claimed that the replacement of top officials at the Zambia Police Service is tantamount to an admission of guilt by the PF government over the killing of innocent civilians during last week’s unrest in Lusaka.
In a statement to the media, Mr Katuka said the dismissal of senior police officials, including Deputy Inspector General Bonnie Kapeso and Lusaka Police Commissioner Nelson Phiri, were merely cosmetic and that the real perpetrators of last Wednesday’s violence should be brought to justice.
The statement is as follows:
PRESS STATEMENT
30th December 2020
CHANGES IN THE POLICE COMMAND MEAN NOTHING IF THE KILLERS ARE NOT ARRESTED
We have taken note of the changes Mr. Edgar Lungu has made in the Zambia Police Service following the brutal murders of Nsama Nsama and Joseph Kaunda last week by the Zambia Police officers.
In the first place, these changes now confirm and is an admission that the PF government through the Zambia Police murdered the innocent citizens, hence trying to launder their tattered and reckless image.
But as UPND, we view these changes as cosmetic and meaningless if the real killers are not brought to book and face justice.
If anything, these changes of merely dropping the deputies while leaving the top commanders such as Inspector General of the Police Kakoma Kanganja, Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo and Mr. Edgar Lungu himself, are a complete joke to the Zambian people.
How could the junior officers have executed instructions of whatever nature without the knowledge and authority of the top commanders who include Mr. Edgar Lungu himself?
In fact, the firing of the top police officers justifies what we have always been warning officers in the security wings; that Mr. Lungu is just using you, but can dump and sacrifice you when things go wrong for him, hence the need to be professional in their day to day work.
The sad part to the serving and dismissed officers and all civil servants is that while Mr. Lungu will use you when it benefits him, he will dump and sacrifice you and be made to live as ordinary citizens facing the same communities that he commanded you to brutalise or abuse.
To us, the real culprit is Mr. Lungu himself who is on record issuing very serious threats on his opponents such as “I will fall on them like a tonne of bricks”.
The dismissed top police officers are mere sacrificial lambs while the main culprits have been left off the hook and there are no signs of bringing justice to the killers of the innocent citizens.
We also note that Mr. Lungu has given Inspector General of the police Kakoma Kanganja six months contract in which he reorganises the police.
We wonder what Mr. Kanganja can do in six months which he could not do in many years at the helm of the Zambia Police service. Even worse, we wonder how Mr. Kanganja will reorganise the police when he is unlikely to get any respect from his juniors who now know he is being fired in six months time.
We take note of the elevation of an overzealous police officer Charity Katanga to the position of Deputy Inspector General of police in charge of operations. To us, we are now convinced Mr. Lungu is not interested in peace, but has basically declared a blood bath on the Zambian citizens.
Ms. Katanga is well known for her open hatred against the opposition UPND President Hakainde Hichilema and his party going by her past conduct.
Zambians should now brace for more brutality under Mr. Lungu and Mr. Kampyongo and their only option as citizens is to unite and remove the brutal regime in 2021.