By Patson Chilemba
Lemmy Kajoba has failed, says State Counsel John Sangwa.
Speaking with Daily Revelation on the lawlessness being exhibited by UPND thugs, where they even went to the extent of disrupting magistrate court proceedings, during the appearance of their fellow thugs who assaulted Kasama district administrative officer Beauty Namukoko, Sangwa said the problem lay squarely on the police, and their boss Kajoba in particular.
“The issue is very simple Mr Chilemba, all what you should do is call for the removal of the Inspector General of Police. Simple. When you see that level of lawlessness it’s failure…I know the temptation is always to try and politicise the issue but this is not a political issue. This is a law enforcement issue. Okay!” Sangwa said. “When you see such acts of lawlessness we have institutions of government that are responsible for maintaining law and order and that is why you have the Inspector General of Police, who is in charge of the internal security of the country and responsible for ensuring that we all comply with the law.”
Sangwa noted that the root cause of the problem emanated from the last 10 years of the PF’s reign, the period when he said state institutions were severely weakened, including DEC, ACC and police, to the point where the country was being run by cadres.
He said the country therefore needed to go back to the basics in addressing that mentality, and must start looking into questions of how to strengthen the institutions of government.
“In this case we are talking about law enforcement agencies. No body is above the law. So when you have a break down of law and order you have described, all what it means is that somebody has failed to do his job and that somebody is the Inspector of Police. So that is the kind of conversation we should be having. No political party, no political cadre is above the law,” Sangwa said. “So if the IG did not provide adequate security, those people misconducted themselves, breached the law, violated the law. And the issue is very simple, arrest them and prosecute them. Simple! It’s not a political issue, it’s simply a matter of lawlessness.”
Sangwa said citizens must work towards providing depth to the quality of discussion on the country, by not focusing on personalities, given the background that state institutions were decimated in the last 10 years.
“Now we have a responsibility as citizens to ensure that we rebuild these institutions and that is why you have a new Inspector General of Police. His job cannot be business as usual. His job is not to continue from where Kanganja left. His job is to reverse whatever damage was done to the police under Kanganja. He has to give the police a completely new direction. These are the issues we should be talking about,” Sangwa said.
He said “people did not vote on 12th August for continuity. Okay. People voted for change. That’s what it means so we can’t continue, I mean for me it’s no brainer, unless you are brain dead. But the point is we voted for change.”
“So when you have been out in a certain position, take the IG for example, his job is to reform the police. Root out all the bad eggs, bring back professionalism in the police and let the police as an institution play its role in protecting the citizens, irrespective of who we are, what political party we belong to or what colour, tribe or region where we have come from. We are first and foremost Zambians,” Sangwa said. “So that’s the responsibility of the police and anyone appointed under the new government must know, if he doesn’t know then he’s not fit for the office, that his job is to undo first of all, to arrest the damage that has been done under the last 10 years of PF.
“First of all you arrest the decline and start rebuilding the institution that one is responsible for. It could be an institution, it could be a Ministry. It could be a department we are looking at a new direction altogether.”
He said people did not vote for continuity of lawlessness.
“People did not vote just to replace PF thuggery with UPND thuggery. That is not what the election was all about. Let’s not lose the importance. Let’s not forget the importance of that election. We voted for radical change, not cosmetic change,” Sangwa said, urging journalists to also radically change the way they covered national issues as their role was important in nation rebuilding. “We are talking about changing completely the direction of this country. That’s what people voted for.”
But he said that would require radical focus from the citizens as the national debate right now was very shallow, including discussing “whether the President went on a private trip or on a private trip, official trip.”
“I mean Mr Chilemba, that is a very very shallow discussion. Okay. And everybody is consumed about that. The point is let’s have a conversation do we want to have a situation where we separate, when the President is doing things in his own private capacity…,” Sangwa said. “But my point is this discussion is very shallow. Let’s rebuild this country. That’s what we should focus on. The Kasama incident you are talking about, why do you think it happened? Because we are not doing anything to rebuild this country. Okay. The same level of lawlessness, the same weak institutions have continued. So let’s focus on the rebuilding of this country. The most important thing is how do we strengthen the institutions of government? Let’s not focus on the individual, or individuals. Let’s focus on institutions.”
Sangwa said for example ministers or UPND cadres who committed wrongs must not be arrested when the UPND is out of power, but must be arrested now, and that is only possible if state institutions are strengthened to operate professionally, and that’s what public discourse should be about.
He said the state institutions are pursuing crimes committed under the PF, they must also be pursuing crimes that are being done now.
“Because let’s not delude ourselves into thinking that crimes were only committed under PF. Crimes are being committed even now. So those that are committing crimes even now they should be arrested and prosecuted,” said Sangwa.
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