By Ernest Chanda
JOSEPHS Akafumba says Shiwang’andu PF member of parliament Stephen Kampyongo should not dare the government.
He has instead advised Kampyongo to shut up if he has nothing to say.
On Sunday, the former home affairs minister in the Edgar Lungu administration said detained PF deputy national chairman Davies Chama was in strong spirits and ready to appear in court.
Addressing journalists at Lusaka’s Woodlands Police Station after visiting Chama who is in detention for attempted murder, Kampyongo said the development should not discourage PF supporters, further claiming that he had run the Zambia Police Service professionally.
“We are concerned but we remain positive that these are matters that will come to pass. We are all not above the law and we are ready to face justice if there is something that the people of Zambia think we did wrong. But we are not going to accept to be trodden upon and make us scared and get to abdicate our duties…We also lent that service to the State and keeping the nation safe. And we made sure that lawbreakers were dealt with through the same institutions; they are not personal, these are State institutions,” said Kampyongo. “And no one should attempt to think that when they have got an opportunity to serve the people they own [them]. I always spoke when I was minister of home affairs that it’s not possible to micromanage State institutions. I never did. And I don’t think the current Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security [Jack Mwiimbu] should. The portfolio functions are so many at the ministry. But my emphasis is that we should not create an impression that there was a time when police couldn’t touch certain citizens, not even me as then minister of home affairs was above the law. If there was anything that was wrong, I should have been visited by the law even as I was sitting in the Ministry of Home Affairs. So, we are yet to see.”
But Akafumba, the interim NDC leader and UPND-Alliance member, warned Kampyongo that he could have been in jail by now if it were not for a reasonable government today.
“So, for him to say that he ran the police professionally, I think he’s joking. He must be a joker. Let him not dare us. Let him not dare this government because we have a lot on what Kampyongo has done in this country,” the former justice permanent secretary warned yesterday. “In fact, if we were as vengeful as they were, Kampyongo would already be in the dock answering for what he did as minister of home affairs. So, let him not dare us. He really brutalised the police. The same police that today he’s complaining about had completely gone – where cadres could threaten [then police Inspector General Kakoma] Kanganja.”
Akafumba reminded Kampyongo about some of the atrocities he allegedly committed using the police.
“Kampyongo promoted cadreism. We also know that it was during Kampyongo’s time when a lot of people were arrested on tramped up charges. I do recall the other time when he was trying to arrest [now PF cadre Chishimba] Kambwili on a matter of treason,” he explained. “And Kambwili had to step in and disturb the meeting which Kampyongo was chairing at the Ministry of Home Affairs. There are many more people. [Current President] Hakainde [Hichilema] was arrested, maybe more than 15 times. And Kampyongo was very proud of that, that whoever says anything against president Lungu kwikata (it’s to arrest).”
Akafumba explained further that under Kampyongo’s reign, police never allowed the opposition to mobilise.
“When you see my sister who became so brutal, [former deputy inspector general of police] Charity Katanga, she was working on the instructions of Kampyongo. Under Kampyongo us in the opposition then we were not allowed to hold any meeting. Kampyogno abused the public order Act to the full. So, for him to get to say he acted professionally…” he said. “Look, Kampyongo presided over the giving of the NRCs (National Registration Cards) where the NRCs were given more to the northern circuit, he has not given an answer to that. That was Kampyongo. Kamyoongo made sure that he took defective machines to the western part of Zambia, and southern to disenfranchise people. Kampyongo was a very arrogant minister of home affairs. And again, it’s his background.”
Akafumba reminded Kampyongo of many other abuses committed when he was in government.
He said Kampyongo should in fact be the last person to complain about arrests.
“Let me make it very clear that Kampyongo has been the worst minister of home affairs from independence. But we understand his background because he knew no law. To him he’s the one who took cadreism to the police, and that’s what Kampyongo is known for,” Akafumba said.
“Kampyongo presided over the police when they arrested Hakainde Hichilema on a tramped-up charge of treason. And you must know that treason, at the end of the day, is that the individual must be hanged. That was Kampyongo’s police – over a traffic offence! Kampyongo was minister of home affairs when a number of people…Vespers Shimunzhila when the police went and used teargas on unarmed students and one girl unfortunately died, Mushaukwa Mushaukwa, Obed Kasongo who was our NDC member, the list is long. A lot of people were killed at the hands of the police and Kampyongo was proud of that.”
And Akafumba proposed that going forward the position of home affairs minister should be given to a sober person.
He said Kampyongo’s reign had brought out valuable lessons on how not to give such power to a clueless person.
“So, this position of Minister of Home Affairs, to me going forward, I think we should not just appoint anybody from the streets. This should be a preserve for people who are sober and most preferably, like what we have now. We have a lawyer as Minister of Home Affairs. Kampyongo was not for that position,” Akafumba said. “It was under Kampyongo where a cadre went straight in a police station, beat up policemen and got their cell phones and left. And he just walked out and Kampyongo was still there. So, when one turned the pages, what could have been the state of this country had Kampyongo and his mafia gang continued? I repeat what I’ve said before, there could have been no Zambia. It’s God in the heavens Who saved us from the hands of Kampyongo because PF now was transformed from a political party to a mafia gang where it’s only them who should be seen and heard whilst the rest of the country should be subdued to silence.”
Meanwhile, Akafumba warned Kampyongo that there was so much revealed about his deeds as minister, “so he should just keep quiet and wait for his time to face justice”.
“Kampyongo and Chilangwa, I know both. But I want to tell Kampyongo that I think it’s better he just keeps quiet because what happened in Mulobezi is well known to everybody. There are so many people, especially PF people who misbehaved but they were protected by the system under Kampyongo,” Akafumba charged. “So many cadres could do anything that they wanted but Kampyongo protected them to the full. So, Kampyongo was the most arrogant and most brutal minister of home affairs that this country has ever seen. Lastly, my advice to Kampyongo is, Sir, it was in Shiwang’andu where a helicopter was stoned and you kept quiet, nobody has been arrested over that.”
He reminded Kampyongo how he abused the police to settle personal scores.
Akafumba also charged that Kampyongo dressed PF cadres in police uniforms.
“Have you forgotten what you did to Fred M’membe? What you did to his Mwika Village where you instructed the police on a traditional land; you go and you occupy somebody’s house illegally – you occupied it! Your people only ran away from there when they heard that Hakainde has won. Just wait until your time to face justice comes,” said Akafumba. “Today you turn round and say I was clean? You’re not clean. You took over somebody’s property. So, we know a lot about Kampyongo. It’ll be better he keeps quiet than to brag that he led the police fairly. We also know that cadres were given uniforms under Kampyongo. And we have proof to that effect, that cadres were given police uniforms authorised… We had Chinese in the police under Kampyongo. So what is Kampyongo talking about? I think for Kampyongo let him just shut up!”- The Mast