MWALITETA CRITICISES POLICE FOR NOT ARRESTING YOUTHS INSULTING LUNGU IMMEDIATELY
LUSAKA Province UPND Chairperson Obvious Mwaliteta has criticised police officers for not arresting youths who insulted former President Edgar Lungu at the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) on Thursday.
Mwaliteta expressed disappointment over the incident, emphasising that such behaviour from the youths is unacceptable under the UPND government.
“The police officers stationed at the DEC should have arrested the youths immediately for their disrespectful conduct towards the former Head of State,” Mwaliteta said during an interview with Kalemba.
Apologising to Lungu and the nation, Mwaliteta stressed the importance of respecting individuals regardless of political affiliations. “Aside from being a politician, Lungu is an elder and deserves respect from the youths,” he stated.
The incident occurred when Lungu accompanied his family members, wife Esther, daughter, Chiyeso and nephew Charles Phiri to the DEC headquarters in Lusaka where they were being questioned about their wealth.
The trio were eventually arrested on charges of dubiously acquiring wealth and released on bail.
However, the DEC officer examined the trio, some youths, some in UPND regalia, expressed happiness at the former first family’s summons, chanted slogans and sang a song insulting the former head of state.
“This behavior has no place in the UPND. We are very disappointed with the youths. Edgar Lungu does not deserve those insults because he is an elder,” Mwaliteta condemned.
He added that any grievances the UPND has against Lungu pertain to his governance, which should be discussed respectfully rather than through insults.
Mwaliteta criticised the police for not taking immediate action.
“The police should have acted immediately because the youths committed a crime. The President has made it clear that when you commit a crime, you are on your own. The youths had no business being there, and their behaviour was uncalled for,” he said.
Assuring the nation of the UPND government’s commitment to responsibility and discipline, Mwaliteta highlighted initiatives to engage and train youths.
“As a province, we have introduced a youth corner where youths, regardless of their constituency, can engage with Members of Parliament and the CDF committee for training opportunities. We want our youths to be financially independent,” he explained.
“We will ensure this does not happen again and will discipline our youths,” added Mwaliteta.
By Buumba Mwitumwa
Kalemba
Had the police arrested those thugs they would have discovered that those were not UPND cadres but well stated Mr Mwaliteta wr do not want that sort of behaviour.
All the police officers who managed the occurrence DEC must be summoned so that they give an account as to why they didn’t arrest those carders wearing UPND regalia.
Truly speaking those weren’t UPND. Do you think UPND Cadres have the guts to do that? I still doubt. Definitely if they were arrested immediately they would have found that they were not UPND Cadres but sponsored bad children by those in opposing Parties- a scheme to paint UPND black.
This is a known trick for Opposition.
The Police officers charged with maintaining order at the venue must be taken to task by their superiors for negligence of duty. This kind of behaviour is unacceptable in the new dispensation.
Mr. Lungu was only performing his duties when he escorted his wife and daughter to the DEC offices.
For some reason, very little has changed regarding the conduct of the police. They are behaving exactly like they did under PF. They deny the opposition the chance to engage the people and turn a blind eye to the misconduct of ruling UPND cadres. The corruption within the police is still rife.
The character is just pretending. All that insulting looked really rehearsed. I must say, we must be ashamed of ourselves as Zambians to have a former Head of state insulted in the manner ECL was insulted.