DEC IS INCOMPETENT AND SHOULD BE DISBANDED, DEMANDS TUTWA
OPPOSITION Patriotic Front (PF) lawyer, Tutwa Ngulube has warned that the inefficiency and incompetence displayed by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) has potentially eroded public confidence in the institution with its back and forth way of operating.
In an interview, Ngulube, a former Kabwe Central Member of Parliament has called for the disbandment of DEC as it has lost its relevance in the country.
He said the institution has not only exposed its incompetence but also its failure to heed to applicable procedures in most of its operations.
“The Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) has exposed not only its incompetence, but its inefficiencies and irrelevance to the problems that the people have in society. That’s why we want to propose that the failure by the Commission to adhere to the law and also to adhere to the applicable procedures in most of what they are doing, actually shows us that this department is no longer required in Zambia, it should actually be disbanded and made a department of the Zambia Correctional Services,” he said.
Ngulube was reacting to the announcement by DEC that it had lifted the seizure notice issued on a property reportedly registered in the names of former president Edgar Lungu.
He has since advised the Commission to conduct thorough investigations to avoid an embarrassing outcome in future.
Ngulube said it is disappointing that the Commission has now become a danger to the peace enjoyed by Zambians and the Commission itself.
“The Drug Enforcement Commission has become a danger not only to themselves but also to the peace that the people are enjoying. The harrassment of the former head of state by the DEC is a clear manifestation that these people have no work to do.”
He lamented, “the Drug Enforcement Commission has eroded all the public confidence that people had in them such that even if they are to arrest a person people would not respect their decision. DEC being an institution that is not only suppose to conduct a witch hunt should stick within the lane that the law has given them. The DEC has been fighting with Zambia Police over fraud cases, they want to do issues to do with fraud cases, they want to do cases relating to Anti -Corruption Commission, they want to do cases relating to Financial Intelligence Center, this institution has lost its relevance and must be disbanded,” he said.
Recently, the investigative wing seized Crest Lodge in Lusaka’s Ibex Hill area suspected to belong to former republican president Edgar Lungu under a law that allows forfeiture of property suspected to be proceeds of crime but was forced to lift the seizure after discovering that the property was registered in other names.