UNZALARU has demanded that President Edgar Lungu dismisses home affairs minister Stephen Kamyongo and Inspector General of police Kakoma Kanganja for gross negligence.
On Tuesday, police shot dead State prosecutor Nsama Nsama and UPND supporter Joseph Kaunda in cold blood.
This was the day when UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema appeared at Force headquarters for questioning.
Adding voice to condemning the killings, the University of Zambia Lecturers and Researchers Union (UNZALARU) says police acted with impunity.
“As UNZALARU, we strongly condemn the extra-judicial killings by the Zambia Police Service. We urge the Head of State to relieve the Minister of Home Affairs and the Inspector General of Police of their duties with immediate effect for gross negligence and promoting anarchy in the country,” UNZALARU president Andrew Phiri said in a statement. “In the same breath, we demand the immediate setting up of an inquest to establish the facts surrounding these unfortunate and regrettable killings of innocent citizens. The perpetrators must be brought to book in order to bring a comprehensive and objective closure of this matter to the bereaved families.”
Dr Phiri said despite various calls from stakeholders for police to exercise maximum restraint, they have abused their powers with impunity.
“It is saddening that despite numerous calls for maximum restraint by the Zambia Police Service, even under severe provocation when dealing with innocent and unarmed citizens, from a cross section of society including ourselves, the Zambia Police Service under the leadership of the Minister of Home Affairs Mr Stephen Kampyongo and Inspector General of Police Mr Kakoma Kanganja, have chosen to ignore these calls with impunity,” Dr Phiri said. “For example, on November 1, 2020, UNZALARU issued a statement in which we called upon the Zambia Police Service to exercise restraint when dealing with unarmed citizens. The nation has continued to witness unwarranted killings of innocent citizens by the police officers that are mandated to protect life and uphold the law.”
And UNZALARU expressed concern at the shrinking civic space in the country.
“We are equally concerned with the shrinking civic space in which citizens should exercise their domestic rights as enshrined in our Republican Constitution. Instead, the police have chosen to ignore the law and use force to harass, intimidate and kill citizens in the name of keeping the ‘peace’, the very citizens whom police are mandated to protect. This trend must be condemned by all well-meaning citizens and must stop henceforth,” said Dr Phiri. “It is shocking that in the 21st century and with the recently acquired modern equipment for crowd control, the police have continued to use archaic methods of controlling crowds. This vice has remained unabated and it now threatening to reverse Zambia’s democratic gains. Therefore, we demand that the Zambia Police Service must reform and retrain all its officers in internationally acceptable crowd management practices.”