LUSAKA lawyer Milner Katolo says police are giving themselves powers they don’t have by stopping opposition political parties from mobilising.
In an interview, Katolo said according to the law, people are just required to notify police, which should not be treated as seeking permission.
He said there was no provision for police permission in the law.
“Under the public order Act, a person that requires to hold an assembly is only required to give notification to the police. And once that notification is given, the police are not empowered under the law to say ‘no you cannot hold that event’,” Katolo said. “What is more worrying is that the opposition have their space clamped by the ruling party and that is stiffening democracy in our nation. If you ask me whether these people even go through the process as provided in the public order Act, the answer is no. So why is the law being selectively applied to different classes? We are all Zambians and no one is above the law. We are all entitled to the protection of the law.”
Katolo wondered why the opposition were being blocked by police even when they complied with public order Act requirements.
“There are situations where opposition political parties were trying to comply with the provisions of the Constitution as far as holding intra-party elections are concerned; it’s a mandatory requirement,” Katolo said. “But each time they applied, the police rejected and the implication of that is that the police wanted those opposition political parties not to comply with the Constitution. And the net result is de-registration of those political parties for non-compliance.”
He said it seemed that the PF would like to see other political parties deregistered.
Katolo added that the Zambia Police Service had lost all manner of professionalism.
“The police should now, going forward, redeem themselves, show themselves that they are professionals by treating anyone who makes a notification to them equally and provide an alternative date as well as police the event,” said Katolo. “They will tell you that ‘we don’t have sufficient manpower’, but when it is the party in government, suddenly manpower comes. If it is to arrest an opposition member, huge hordes of police are sent. If it is suppressing students, be it at the University of Zambia or Copperbelt University, hordes of police are sent. But where do those officers go when it comes to policing an event for the opposition party? We are denting our own image as a country. Let us show that we can govern ourselves fairly and objectively and give equal treatment to all citizens. Then we will be showing that we are upholding the tenets of democracy.”