By Daily Revelation Reporter
Economic Front (EF) leader Wynter Kabimba has charged that police inspector general Lemmy Kajoba is being arrogant by being silent over alleged corruption in the police service, and his silence means he condones the wrongdoing going on in a critical public institution mandated to fight crime.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Kabimba said the allegations raised by police officers about senior officials including themselves on the list of officers from outside Lusaka and thereby entitling themselves to the K6020 received by the officers from outside Lusaka, smelled of corruption within the police command, saying a police command of that nature was definitely compromised in terms of executing its duty as a police service.
“I wrote an article on my Facebook page a week ago which was entitled, when silence means consent. So if IG Kajoba has been given an opportunity by the press to respond to an allegation like that and he remains mute, then the adage that silence means consent, that he should know about what is going on there becomes true,” Kabimba said. “And also you can’t hold a public position and treat it as if it’s personal. If you asked the Inspector General of Police how many children he had, he has a right to remain silent because that is a private matter. But when you ask him about an issue of public interest such as alleged corruption within his institution, surely he must worry and respond to that query. So the two situations I have given in this example are different.”
Kabimba said Kajoba was obliged as his own boss, President Hichilema, had said he was a servant of the people, and the masters were asking him to account on what is going on in his institution.
“And it will be arrogance for the servant to remain silent, or to choose to remain silent. So I am saying that those who hold public positions must separate their personal feelings and emotions and their duty to the public,” he said
He said he had always argued that in an economy as weak as Zambia’s there will be no institution that will be insulated against corruption, because everybody, especially those holding public office were fighting for survival.
“And therefore we ought to deal with the issue of the fight against corruption by looking at its root, not its symptoms. What every government has done without exception up to the UPND now is that they have been fighting the symptoms of corruption and not the root cause of corruption,” Kabimba said, adding that in countries which were admired of being corrupt free, it was not because they were angels but because they were working in economies that were strong to sustain their livelihood. “I am not saying this to justify corruption. I am saying this to help those in authority and I tried to do this even in PF, to get down to understand the genesis of corruption in every society, including our own country. So as long as we think that corruption is only at the level of ministers and heads of parastatal institutions, we shall not succeed in fighting the scourge.”
Kabimba said it was a pity that even under the UPND, corruption has been turned into a vehicle for vengeance and not a crusade to right the wrongs of this society, saying for as long as the general public perceived the fight to be vengeful, “for as long as ZNBC keeps on running this monotonous programme about the alleged suffering and struggle by HH while in the opposition and trying to turn him into a hero, it will divert the attention of everybody from the real issues.”
He said what was happening in the police service was common in many other public institutions, and therefore for the police command to react by challenging officers who were raising corruption allegations to report to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), was being naïve.
“Because they know that they will not do that. Those are junior officers and they may face the same victimization that everybody else has faced in these institutions. I think what the police command should be saying to the public on a matter like this is ‘we shall institute investigations to establish who has committed that wrong.’ That is how a public institution like the police service should react,” said Kabimba. “That is the only way the police service is going to win the confidence of the people, because that statement from the police command is a political statement. We have heard that statement from the politicians. When the public raises the red flag about corruption in the government, what does the President do? (He says) go and report these ministers to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) instead of investigating his own ministers.”
Kabimba said the police service should be able to worry that within themselves there are elements that are promoting the scourge which they are supposed to fight.
Police officers recently told Daily Revelation that the officers who were called for duty from outside Lusaka during the AU were paid K6020 allowances but that some senior officials in Lusaka included themselves on the list and revived the same money. However, the junior officers from Lusaka have not been paid and it is being suggested that they will be paid K1250 each, despite working for six days continuously and working long hours during the summit.
Police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga said the service does not discuss officers conditions of sebaceous when he was contacted by Daily Revelation and challenged the officers with details about alleged corruption to report the matter to ACC.
