MUNA Ndulo says government officials should be made to account for the injustices committed against citizens by police officers.
The US-based constitutional law professor says the conduct of the police in Zambia in the last five years has been pathetic.
He says there is no way the State can run away from illegal acts of its agents such as the police.
“In the advent of a change of government, we must make those under whose watch violence was perpetrated and people were denied their rights accountable,” he said in a write-up titled ‘Political violence in Zambia and the police: a tale of weaponised and politicised Police Service’. “That is the only way Zambia will cross the bridge from dictatorship to a new society that respects human rights and dignity of all people regardless of their tribe, colour, gender, and political persuasion. The country cannot tolerate these wrongs, because it cannot survive their being repeated.”
He expressed concern that police violence has intimidated citizens to a level where they can no longer speak out.
Prof Ndulo cited incidents where police have killed and maimed citizens without being punished for such injustices.
“It is sad that in today’s Zambia the people are afraid of their government and its violent surrogates who are inflicting violence and anguish on people who are merely exercising their constitutionally guaranteed rights of freedom of speech and assembly,” Prof Ndulo noted. “In terms of the future, we advocate that those that bear the gravest responsibility for the violations (the leadership in the police and government) must be held accountable if not now in the future whenever the future permits if respect for human rights is going to underpin our democracy now and in the future.”
He dismissed police claims of carrying out investigations on cases where they already have evidence.
“In the last five years, Zambia has witnessed escalating levels of political violence. The violence is typically perpetrated against those expressing opposite views to those of the Patriotic Front party (PF) and its government. Persons perceived to be opponents of the government are brutally assaulted, and their meetings disrupted,” he noted. “Cadres use violence against customers to demand levies from markets and bus stops. Shamefully, the police are at times the targets of these vigilantes. Horrendous acts of violence in the form of gassing innocent citizens have taken place without any serious investigation by the police. The police with impunity have killed opposition party members.”
Prof Ndulo noted that all “these things happen while police look on”.
“All this is happening while an incompetent and highly compromised police command looks on. Indeed, the deterioration of the police as an institution affects all aspects of Zambian life,” said Prof Ndulo. “What clearer evidence of the collapse and partisanship of the police do you need than a police force which instead of ensuring citizens are enjoying their rights deploys its resources on pursuing a private allegation of fraud against an opposition leader at the behest of a delusional new ‘lawyer’ in town who defines fraud in a manner that even a first-year law student would recognise as fundamentally flawed. The truth is the Zambia Police Service is dysfunctional and has lost credibility with the public. It is perceived as weaponised by the government in their efforts to harass and intimidate opponents.”