THE INSOLENCE IN WHICH THE U.S GOVERNMENT SPEAKS OF THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF OUR POLICE RAISES VERY SERIOUS CONCERNS – PF
Below is the Statement: Monday 17 April 2023
The United States Embassy in Zambia yesterday issued a statement applauding President Hakainde Hichilema on the latest appointments he has made in the Zambia Police Service.
In their statement, the American government claim that the appointments will ‘reinforce impartiality in the application of the rule of law and accountability for criminal offences.’ They further accuse the Zambia Police of widespread bribery and corruption within its ranks.
The insolence and detail in which the American government speaks of the internal affairs of our police raises very serious concerns. Just what and how much does the American government know about personnel in the Zambia Police Service and Zambia in general? Who is giving them the information? Has our government ceded its sovereignty to the US government to an extent that the Americans now know and are in control of every detail of our personnel in the Zambia Police
Service? Where does America, a foreign country get the audacity to address our internal security matters with such detail and disdain? How safe are we as a country when a foreign power like the US seem to be in control of our own internal security apparatus? Can the Zambian government be allowed to talk about America’s internal security personnel in such a callous manner without consequences?
It is hypocritical and actually laughable that a country that is grappling with serious police misconduct, ranging from excessive force, discriminatory harassment, false arrests, coercive sexual conduct, and unlawful stops, searches or arrests including torture and murder can have the audacity to reprimand and accuse another country’s police of being corrupt and unethical.
America has a serious problem of policing. The misconduct of the police in America is so grim that the American people have marched in thousands to demand for the defunding of the police in the US. The American government has spent more than $1.5 billion of taxpayers’ money to settle claims of police misconduct involving thousands of officers repeatedly accused of wrongdoing. And the majority of the American citizens have been kept in the dark about this.
Police misconduct and violence in America have taken centre stage of the national discourse. Research by independent and reputable institutions has found that ‘black people are three and a half times more likely to be killed by police when not holding a weapon, or not attacking, than white people.’ Tragically, one out of every thousand black men in the US will be killed by police violence.
It is an undisputed fact that 1 in 20 US homicides are committed by police – and the numbers are not declining.
Records show that police killings in America account for nearly 5% of all homicides, with at least 1,192 people killed by law enforcement in 2022 alone.
According to The Washington Post’s tracking database, at least 1,054 people were shot and killed by the police in 2021. And according to Mapping Police Violence, a leading police violence research project, police killed a minimum of 1,136 people that same year. That includes 1,095 people shot by police or another cause of death — such as tasers, physical restraints, or police vehicles.
How dare that a country with such a shameful and damning record of police brutality and misconduct can assume for itself, a role to issue disparaging and damaging statements against the police of another sovereign state?
We challenge President Hakainde Hichilema to tell his masters, for once, to stop meddling in the internal security affairs of our state. Zambia is not a colony of America and we take great exception when we are treated as such.
Issued by;
Hon Given Lubinda
Vice President
Patriotic Front
