Now soper blames police

IT is evident that the failed meeting between me and the police could turn out to be a 16-year gymnastic of unresolved land dispute, Kitwe farmer Kevin Soper has complained.

Mr Soper has since appealed to the police command to tell him whether there was no other option other than embarking on the 360 kilometre walk to State House to seek President Edgar Lungu`s intervention.

This is over claims that Northern Province Permanent Secretary Elias Kamanga has grabbed his land in Limaposa area in Kitwe.

After being blocked from embarking on his protest walk, a meeting was held with deputy Inspector General of police Malcom Mulenga at which Mr Soper was advised to notify the police over his protest.

But before officers could indicate to him that he could go ahead, Mr Soper last week yet again embarked on his journey before his mission was thwarted by police on the Ndola-Kitwe road. Mr Soper on Thursday demanded to have a meeting with Mr Mulenga, Kitwe District Commissioner Binwell Mpundu, Kitwe Mayor Christopher Kang`ombe and other Government officials.

He had requested that Mr Kamanga himself be present but the meeting did not take place. Mr Soper said he has resolved to go ahead with the protest with or without any notification from the police. In a message sent to the Copperbelt police command and copied to the Daily Nation yesterday, Mr Soper said he had waited for the meeting but that the police command had not committed to the earlier

agreement. “We waited in vain for your (the police’s) call over our meeting. Hopefully, this is not indicative of the 16 years of civil service "gymnastics" that we have painfully endured. In your own word, you promised that a meeting would take place and I stopped my peaceful

appeal walk. “It would now appear, you have not lived up to your word. Have I no alternative but to walk to State House? Please advise as I am tired,” Mr Soper wrote.