KAWANA’S STATEMENT IS INACCURATE, MISLEADING AND DETACHED FROM WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN CHIPATA
By Brian Matambo | Media Director – Tonse Pamodzi Alliance
We have taken note of the statement issued by Mr Thabo Kawana regarding the disgraceful incident at Protea Hotel in Chipata involving President Brian Mundubile and his running mate, Hon. Makebi Zulu.
To begin with, Mr Kawana was not at the hotel when the police arrived and caused confusion. That explains why his statement is not only inaccurate, but also conveniently detached from the facts on the ground. Those of us who were present saw exactly what happened. No amount of official spin can wash away the truth.
President Mundubile and Hon. Makebi Zulu were hounded out of the hotel. This was not a normal police operation. It was not a calm pursuit of suspects. It was an intimidating, reckless and politically charged operation whose conduct cannot be justified by the excuse Mr Kawana is now trying to manufacture.
At the time the Deputy Inspector General of Police mounted a chase after the presidential candidate and his running mate in Chipata, the three individuals the simple question Mr Kawana must answer is this: if the alleged suspects had already been arrested, what was the purpose of chasing President Mundubile and Hon. Makebi Zulu through Chipata?
Was the intention to arrest them too? Was the intention to intimidate them? Was the intention to put their lives at risk? Or was this simply another act of political harassment dressed in police uniform?
The conduct of the police at the hotel was alarming. Commands were being issued. Officers were being told to pull out their long batons. Threats of police brutality were in the air. It is this hostile atmosphere that forced the presidential candidate and his running mate to be whisked away for their own safety. Even then, the Deputy Inspector General proceeded to chase after them using high speed vehicles, effectively placing their lives in danger.
Mr Kawana must not insult the intelligence of the public by pretending that this was merely about three suspects. The action of the police went far beyond the arrest of those individuals. The conduct, the timing, the aggression and the pursuit all point to something more sinister.
Even worse, the Deputy Inspector General arrived in Chipata with no basic cultural intelligence. Hon. Makebi Zulu is a subject of His Majesty Paramount Chief Mpezeni. He had every legal, social and cultural right to be in Chipata to mourn his King. No police officer, however senior, should casually storm into such a sensitive cultural moment and behave as though Chipata is a political battlefield.
Mr Kawana should be educated that the Deputy Inspector General erred by failing to apply even the most basic cultural sense. Unless Mr Kawana is suggesting that Hon. Makebi Zulu himself was one of the alleged suspects, there was absolutely no basis for treating him like a fugitive in a city where he had gone to mourn in accordance with tradition.
We may excuse the Deputy Inspector General for failing to appreciate the cultural implications of his actions, perhaps because he does not hail from Eastern Province and may come from a different cultural background. But that is precisely why police leadership must act with humility, wisdom and restraint when operating in culturally sensitive environments. To go to Chipata and chase a subject of the Ngoni kingdom out of the city simply because he holds a different political view is not only politically reckless, it is culturally offensive.
We are of the considered view that the incident at Protea Hotel was not accidental. It must be understood in the context of what happened at the funeral. When President Hakainde Hichilema attended the funeral, he did not receive the kind of political reception his handlers may have expected. The people were largely unmoved by his presence. Even when he made remarks that leaned more towards politics and campaign language than the solemnity of a funeral, there were no usual chants of “Forward! Forward!”
By contrast, whenever President Brian Mundubile and Hon. Makebi Zulu rose, they were warmly received by crowds chanting “Nyali! Nyali!” That public affection appears to have unsettled the UPND system. What followed at Protea Hotel looked less like law enforcement and more like political jealousy wearing police boots.
We therefore reject Mr Kawana’s attempt to sanitise what happened. The public must not be misled. The issue is not whether police can arrest suspects. Of course they can, provided they act within the law. The issue is why, after the alleged suspects had already been arrested, the police proceeded to threaten, intimidate and chase President Mundubile and Hon. Makebi Zulu.
That is the real question.
The police must not be reduced to an enforcement wing of political fear. Zambia is not a one-party state. Opposition leaders have the right to move, mourn, associate, worship and participate in national life without being hunted like criminals.
Mr Kawana’s statement is therefore rejected for what it is: a poor attempt at damage control after a reckless police operation that endangered lives, disrespected culture and exposed the growing intolerance of the UPND government.
The truth remains stubborn. It does not bend because a government spokesperson has issued a Facebook post.
What happened in Chipata was wrong. It was dangerous. It was shameful. And it must be condemned by every citizen who still believes that Zambia is a democracy.