UNIVERSITY of Zambia law lecturer James Kayula says the real source of lawlessness in the country is President Egar Lungu himself, and not his appointees.
On December 23, police in Lusaka shot dead State prosecutor Nsama Nsama and UPND member Joseph Kaunda who were unarmed and peaceful.
This was the day UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema was scheduled to appear at Police Force headquarters for questioning.
In his write-up titled, ‘Who bears responsibility for the coldblooded extrajudicial killings’, Kayula said blaming home affairs minister Stephen Kampyongo and Inspector General of police Kakoma Kanganja would be ignoring the problem.
Kayula said President Lungu’s history on governance proved that he had no regard for people’s rights and freedoms.
“As already argued, it is more worrisome that the President appears to have ratified the illegalities perpetrated by the Minister of Home Affairs and the Inspector General. This observation gives an impression that the real problem may be beyond the official capacities of the Minister of Home Affairs and the Inspector General,” he argued. “The real problem appears to be President Lungu himself, whose record of upholding and defending the Constitution is regrettably stale. While some of the malfeasance of the Lungu presidency may be corrected in future, unfortunately, the loss of innocent lives will remain an indelible scar on Zambia’s democratic credentials – perhaps as a solemn rainbow to remind the people of Zambia that never again should the bar to national leadership be lowered. That never again should the people of Zambia toy around with who ascends to national leadership.”
Kayula also blamed the killings on Kampyongo and Kanganja who had issued careless statements prior to Hichilema’s appearance at Force headquarters.
He said the illegal instructions from the two presidential appointees incited police to kill innocent people.
“It is these illegal orders, coupled with the lawlessness of the irresponsible and reckless Minister of Home Affairs, and the Inspector General that set in motion the chain of activities that led to the loss of two lives. Had these two public officers applied their minds to the law governing the performance of their duties, balanced with their constitutional mandate to enable the exercise of the rights and freedoms guaranteed to Zambian citizens, the loss of lives would have been averted,” Kayula said. “All that was required in these circumstances, was a professional Zambia Police Service as mandated by the Constitution. We would have been with our two departed brothers today, had it not been for this grave dereliction of duty by the Zambia Police Service and its superiors.”
He called for the dismissal and prosecution of Kampyongo and Kanganja for neglecting their legal duties.
“In terms of criminal liability, the Minister of Home Affairs, and Inspector General of police can as well be charged with aiding and abetting the commission of the crimes arising out of the events of Wednesday, the 23rd of December, 2020. These two irresponsible public officers not only do deserve to be dismissed, but also being arrested and charged accordingly for all the ensuing criminality,” he wrote. “The two public officers are by law, accessories before the fact – they are parties to the commission of those offences, and they must be held accountable for their sheer disregard of the law governing the administration of their duties.”
And Kayula expressed disappointment that President Lungu had adopted his two appointees’ illegalities.
“Moving forward, what appears to even be more appalling and shocking than the recklessness and criminal conduct of the Minister of Home Affairs, and the Inspector General of Police, is that the President has ostensibly adopted the illegalities of these two public officers,” said Kayula. “The President is blaming the loss of lives on the failure by the UPND sympathisers to follow the illegal orders of his two officials, which orders have no legal justification whatsoever. There was no justification in law because no law gives these two public officers authority or power to issue orders that endangered and actually led to the loss of human life. Further, the orders by the two public officers have no justification in common-sense because it was highly outrageous for these two officers to have expected a publicly summoned leader of the biggest opposition political party in the country to have a solitary movement from his residence to the Police Force headquarters.”