Your Excellency,
We, the undersigned civil society organisations, are writing to you to express our views on the aftermath of the unfortunate events of Wednesday 23rd December 2020, when two of our citizens, Mr. Joseph Kaunda and Mr. Nsama Nsama, were tragically shot dead by the Zambia Police Service. Following your deafening silence in the immediate aftermath, you eventually issued a statement through a Facebook post late on Thursday 24th December 2020, in which you among other things directed Inspector-General of Police Mr. Kakoma Kanganja to investigate and to present a report to you on Monday 28th December 2020.
Your Excellency, your office finally issued a statement late on Tuesday 29th December 2020, to the effect that an interim report had been received and that you had made changes in the police high command. The said changes saw the two Deputy Inspector Generals, Messrs Eugene Sibote and Bonny Kapeso, and the Lusaka Province Commissioner, Mr. Nelson Phiri, relieved of their duties, while Mr. Kanganja was given a six-month contract with the specific task of restoring the Zambia Police Service’s battered public image.
Your Excellency, while we note the changes you have made in response to the interim report, our considered view is that they do not go far enough and will not yield the kind of changes that need to happen within the rank and file of the Zambia Police Service. At best those changes are merely cosmetic. We are perplexed, Your Excellency, as to why the two Deputy Inspector-Generals have been held accountable for the behaviour of the Police on 23rd December, and yet their commanding officer, the Inspector-General, has been allowed to continue presiding over the same Police Service that he has mismanaged for the last several years. In the same vein, the Minister of Home Affairs Mr. Stephen Kampyongo has also not faced any punitive action for presiding over a Police Service whose earlier recklessness caused the deaths of at least three other citizens, including Vespers Shimunzhila the University of Zambia student, and Frank Mugala, a 14-year old Grade 8 pupil.
Over the years, the citizens of Zambia have watched in horror as the Police have turned a blind eye to the thuggery of Patriotic Front cadres causing all manner of mayhem such as storming radio stations to stop programmes being aired, or simply causing havoc on our roads with impunity. At the same time, the Police have adopted a ruthless and reckless approach in dealing with people that are not aligned to the ruling party, and this culminated into various killings at the hands of the police.
Your Excellency, we subsequently believe that no real change will come to the Zambia Police Service as long as Mr. Kanganja and Mr. Kampyongo remain Inspector-General and Minister of Home Affairs respectively. We therefore make an earnest appeal to you, being their appointing authority, to immediately dismiss the two in national interest. Rebuilding the image of the Zambia Police over the next six months will be a fruitless endeavor unless the starting point is the dismissal of Mr. Kanganja and Mr. Kampyongo. We are convinced that the two are an embodiment of the worst of what the Zambia Police Service has come to represent over the last few years.
Your Excellency, we further wish to express grave concern that the culture of police brutality and recklessness that we have witnessed could worsen as we head towards this year’s general elections. This could undermine the entire electoral process. We wish to remind you that as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, you have a responsibility to ensure the safety of all Zambian citizens using the state resources at your disposal. We therefore urge you to give an assurance to the nation and make a commitment that the safety of citizens before, during and after the 12th August 2021 general elections will be one of your topmost priorities as we enter this new year. We are convinced that such a public commitment would reassure the citizenry that their safety is being taken seriously.
Your Excellency, we trust that you share the concerns that we have expressed in this letter and that you are also interested in taking corrective action in order to redirect our country back on a course of peace, stability, and the protection of the rights and freedoms of every citizen.
Yours in service of the nation,
Maurice K. Nyambe
Executive Director
Transparency International Zambia
On behalf of:
- Transparency International Zambia
- Alliance for Community Action
- Zitukule Consortium
- Caritas Zambia
- Action Aid Zambia
- Chapter One Foundation
- Centre for Trade Policy and Development
- Zambia Council for Social Development
- GEARS Initiative
- NGOCC
- Council of Churches in Zambia
- Women for Change
