Copperbelt minister gives cop earful for early roadblocks
A TRAFFIC police officer on the Copperbelt was reduced to a ‘seconds’ hand on an analogue clock, saluting every second the provincial minister Elisha Matambo reprimanded him for mounting up a roadblock early in the morning, causing unnecessary congestion.
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Matambo, who was visibly furious, questioned why the officer was stopping motorists during peak commuting hours in the morning saying the timing was causing unnecessary delays for workers heading into town.
“Stop stopping people going to work! These people are going for work at seven hours, and you are putting a roadblock on the road. What are you trying to do? You want to make this government unpopular?” he yelled at the officer in a video he posted on his Facebook page.
The minister instructed that roadblocks and vehicle inspections should be conducted after 10:00 hours, allowing citizens to commute freely between 6:00 and 10:00, the hours when most people travel to work
The officer, clearly caught off guard, was just shouting yes sir and saluting in appology, but the minister was having none of it.
He looked like a man caught in the wrong act at the wrong time, unable to muster an explanation that could save him in that moment…https://kalemba.news/local/copperbelt-minister-gives-cop-earful-for-early-roadblocks/
By George Musonda
Kalemba September 29, 2025
Mr Mwiimbu should wake up, these guys are pocketing lots of money, chisamba road Block has no regards, a cop ll walk around the truck just to see if he came impound it for having one defective Bulb with no worry of how long the line of vehicles is. And he ll do that on every car as long as it’s 2 years old by registration. Now my question is this road fitness test subjected on these vehicles in the interest of traffic law or traffic officers pockets. If it’s for traffic laws the minister of finance should have told the nation the total revenue collect in form of fine, aprr from RATSA and TOLLS this should be the third largest on road money revenue for RDA.
These are not police officers. They are predators. They donot care about the wellbeing of road users. Their sole concern is to make money and they will slap you with a traffic offence at the slightest pretext.
The money they collect doesnot go to the government treasury. Most of it ends up in their pockets for their building projects and leisure. In short, the hapless motorist is bankrolling their house construction and leisure.
Traffic cops are a nuisance and they will either ignore the directives from higher authorities (including the minister of Home Affairs) or develop innovative ways to side step the instructions. It is not the first time that the minister has confronted these predators. Their business is just too lucrative for them to let go.
They are strong adherents of the “uubomba mwibala alya mwibala” philosophy of you know who.
Yes,indeed predation.They see a very long convoy of vehicles for early morning rush hour and all they see is a convoy of cash dispenser machines.So they lie in ambush, only to jump on a minister’s car
What agony!! Standing at attention,saluting every which way!!
But why should this minister, who I believe is a Copperbelt minister, be intervening in this situation this way? is there no policy on how these things are supposed to be done?
Get rid of all road blocks especially on highways. All those are leading to more congestion on an already congested road.