THE POLICE CAN DO BETTER
By Sean Tembo – PeP President
1. It has now been more than a week since the alleged abduction of Ms. Pamela Chisumpa, and yet the Police do not appear to be making progress on the matter. When Lemmy Kajoba issued a statement regarding the Pamela case, he said that such a case has never happened in Zambia and is alien to this nation. But we subsequently learnt that another young lady who is a mobile money agent named Faith Miluti (sp) was also allegedly abducted about two weeks before the Pamela abduction, and she too has not been found up to now. Latest news reports indicate that a third mobile money agent named Mike Banda was also recently abducted around the Northmead area of Lusaka.
2. Clearly, we have a crisis on our hands and it is evident that the Police are unable to cope. This is a matter that should not only be left in the hands of the Police alone, but requires the intervention of the entire Government. Given that the Police have so far not been successful with their investigations, they should consider changing tactics. One of the things that can be done to reboot these investigations is to offer a substantial amount as a reward to anyone with information that will lead to the arrest of the abductors. The Police should put up a sum of say K1 million, and trust me, every other citizen will become a Sherlock Holmes and sooner rather than later, Police will be inundated with leads that they need to follow up.
3. With a substantial amount of reward, God knows, even one of the abductors can turn on their crew in an effort to claim the reward. I mean these guys are small scale. They demand for K15,000 ransom, so a cash reward of K1 million would really get them thinking. From my experience as a former police officer, l know that whenever a crime such as the one in question takes place, the perpetrators always talk to someone. It might be to a girlfriend or a cousin, but people always talk. The only thing that prevents those who have some information from coming forward and reporting to the Police is the hustle of police interrogations. But if there is a cash reward of K1 million, most people will decide that the juice is worth the squeeze and will come forward. So a reward is always a good incentive. Of course more than 90 percent of the tips that will come through to the Police will be baseless, but there is always that one tip that can make a difference.
4. Given the fact that the crime of abduction is relatively new to this country, the Government should also consider requesting some investigative expertise from countries such as South Africa who deal with kidnappings on a regular basis. Government can even make a request to other foreign investigative agencies such as the Scotland Yard in the United Kingdom or the Federal Bureau of Investigations in the United States. Such a request of foreign investigative agencies to come and assist in Zambia would not be unprecedented, as l remember vividly that the FBI came to assist us with some investigations around 1994.
5. What l am trying to say here is that the Government should not just fold their arms and say “we can’t find Pamela, we can’t find Faith …”. Let them try all available options. It is human life that we are talking about here. No resources should be spared to save a human life. A K1 Million offered as a reward is taxpayers’ money well spent.
///END
SET 24.04.2022