STATEMENT BY POLICE THAT PF CADRES BROKE INTO FORMER PRESIDENT EDGAR LUNGU’S HOUSE UNPROFESSIONAL – SHAKAFUSWA
Thursday 18th August, 2022
We find the statement by the Zambia Police claiming that it is PF cadres who broke into the house of former President, Edgar Lungu and stole 2 television sets very careless, unsatisfactory and quite unprofessional.
For the record, we want to categorically state the fact that the purported suspects that the police claim to have arrested are NOT members of the Patriotic Front. We have checked and verified our Party registers and we can confirm that there are no such names in our records.
It is shocking that the Police could be dragging the name of our Party in the mud when they could have simply reached out to our Party Secretariat to verify whether or not the said suspects are indeed members of the Patriotic Front.
And for the record, we want to make it clear that there are no PF cadres who are found at President Lungu’s residence. The former President has retired from active politics and he has nothing to do with party cadres. Members of the Patriotic Front go to the Party secretariat and not the residence of President Lungu so the police should desist from putting the name of President Lungu into public odium.
The police must pursue suspected criminals for their alleged crimes and not for their purported or perceived political affiliation. It is such unprofessional conduct and utterances that have made the Zambia Police to be ranked among the worst in the World. No wonder up to now they have failed to track and bring to book the criminals that abducted the named mobile money operator. How could they issue a statement attaching criminal suspects to an organisation they don’t belong to when a simple check with the Party Secretariat could have revealed the truth about the identity of the said suspects?
We challenge the police to be professional and not to be used as political tools for propaganda purposes. This is why our people are losing trust and confidence in our police because of such unwarranted statements and unethical conduct by SOME of our men and women in uniform.
The other day, the country was treated to an embarrassing circus at Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) with DEC officers scampering in all directions for dear life when a suspect brandished a gun in their own offices. How can such people who fail to even put a simple metal detector or a simple scanner be trusted with investigative duties of a nation? Shame!
This excuse of a government should instead be exonerating itself and explaining to the Zambians why it is failing to provide security for a former head of state.
We are worried and concerned about the safety and privacy of the former President and we demand that the Government accord him the kind of security and respect he deserves as a former head of state.
Issued by;
Hon Christopher Shakafuswa
PF Provincial Chairman
Lusaka Province