ATTEMPTED ROBBERY OR LEGAL SEIZURE?
THE week ended Saturday, July 21, 2018 was not a very good week for me. I witnessed unnecessary political violence and I was made to swallow my words because the side that I have always defended as being nonviolent and progressive was also involved in very retrogressive actions which are bound to blacken Zambia’s reputation as a peaceful and democratic country. There were shocking scenes of political intimidation with the cadres of some parties dressed in militia uniforms. Political militias in Zambia? While travelling home in a cab, we found party cadres directing traffic shouting unprintable words at motorists and banging on bonnets. It was scary. And when I thought we had heard enough about the Saturnia scams, there were more revelations that the managers of the scandalridden pension fund had paid themselves hefty benefits out of the pension scheme despite the fact that they are paid scandalous management and administration fees. So I thought I would have some rest on Saturday and decided to visit my sick brother-in-law who stays in the hills around Shimabala off the Kafue Road. As the Bembas say, ubushiku usheme ne chimbala chilocha (on your unlucky day, even left over nshima can burn your throat). Just before noon on Saturday, July 21, driving to Kafue soon after the Lilayi Police Training School junction, my young brother and I came face to face with the most unreasonable and stubborn inspector of police I have ever faced in my life. We joined the Kafue Road from the ring road at Lilayi junction and 200 meters ahead, we were flagged down by the inspector. My young brother who was driving the vehicle threw his arms in the air in an expression of surprise. This seemed to upset the inspector who aggressively told us to park while shouting that we should just park without complaining whenever a police man tells us to do so. We parked and waited for him to tell us what had gone wrong. He informed us that we were over speeding. At this point, we got out of the vehicle and approached the other officer who had the camera. He told us that we were doing 72km instead of the 60km stipulated in that zone. We disputed that and challenged the officers to show us the road sign which stipulated the speed in that zone. There was none and a heated argument developed over that fact. The inspector then told us that the speed limit from the Kafue roundabout in town up to Chilanga was 60km. We countered this argument and told the inspector that he was telling lies because there are varying speed limits between the Kafue roundabout and Lilayi junction. There are in fact two traffic circles; one at Chawama and the other at Linda or Balmorals Road junction and the law stipulates that the instructions change after each traffic circle. We also told him that we had joined the road from Lilayi and we could not be expected to know what the instructions were at the Kafue roundabout. I remarked that we did not have bionic eyes to see what was so far behind us and that in all fairness motorists joining from Lilayi should find signage as they join the main road. The officer got very upset when we told him this and warned us not to challenge him in his office or work as we had no right to tell him what to do. He argued that it was not his job to install road signage and his duty was to prosecute motorists. After realising that we were right in our challenge to him, the inspector became agitated and told us to obey his instructions without questioning. We requested to see his superior whom he purported was in one of the traffic cars parked near the main road. He then shouted at us saying that if we were not happy with what he was doing we “can even go and complain to the media because we had no right to advise him on his work.” And I did not tell him that I actually wrote this weekly column This to us was very shocking and unprofessional coming from an officer of the senior rank of inspector. He then directed us to see his superiors in one of the cars to which we agreed hoping that we would find someone senior to the inspector who could possibly see sense in our viewpoint and advise accordingly. To our utter dismay, we found a young lady dressed in civilian clothing seated in the car and who seemingly appeared much junior to the inspector. She could not even express herself in any way or articulate the rules governing speed limits on the road. She failed to tell us the speed limit in the area they had put the speed camera and only echoed the inspector’s claim that from Kafue roundabout in Lusaka up to Chilanga it was 60km. An incorrect and unprofessional statement. When we reminded the lady officer that there are two traffic circles between Kafue and Lilayi roundabout each with different speed limits on approach and after the roundabout, and that the law is that after each traffic circle the preceding limit instructions are cancelled and new speed limit instructions are expected, the lady in civilian clothing could not answer and only looked down fiddling in trying to justify her earlier and wrong statement. It was at this point that the inspector came rushing to the police car shouting that he was going to charge us because we had no right to advise him on what he should be doing in his office. He grabbed the charge forms from the car and demanded we surrender the driving licence. We reminded the inspector that he had referred us to his “superiors” in the car and his job was on the road but he insisted that he was the only one with power to charge us at the road block suggesting that he could take the matter to court. When he said that, I told him that I would take a photo of the roundabout to prove that there were no road signs to serve as evidence so that either his superiors or the court can prove our reasoning against his efforts to victimise us. The inspector’s dash at me was faster than that of a cobra; he violently grabbed my phone before I could record anything. I requested him to give me back the phone as it was a private property, but he shouted back that he would pass it on to the Officer-in-Charge. He charged at me and I asked him to punch me if it pleased him. We requested the inspector to give us his particulars such as his service number, contact number and the station where we could find him, he vehemently refused to co-operate. When I tried to look at his name tag to see the number he put his right hand there and started advancing towards me. At this point, my brother and I retreated and told him that we were leaving as we could not cope with his unprofessional conduct and that we were not interested in violence. The inspector did not get any particulars from us and we wondered how he was going to contact me to take the matter forward. I tried to call my phone so that I could speak to him after only 30 minutes and I found that the phone was switched off. This was a clear indication that he had used the phone and because of inbuilt security features it switched off. Later in the evening, we went to Lusaka Central Traffic Section to check if the inspector was based there and we were told that he operated from Police Headquarters. At Police Headquarters, we found a Chief Inspector in the information room and he helped us to speak to some senior officers. The inspector was eventually contacted and when he came to the information office he confirmed in the presence of the Chief Inspector that he had tried to open the phone without my authority but he failed because the phone had a password. I was shocked that an inspector of police did not know that it was unlawful to access any person’s information without the owner’s consent or a court warrant. I now take it that this inspector will be held responsible for any valuable information that may be lost for tampering with the phone. The inspector then claimed that he had already handed over the phone to his officer-in-charge and the issue would be handled on Monday July 23, 2018. I left him my contact details so that he could inform me the office and name of the senior officer I should go and see; forty-eight hours later, I am still waiting to be contacted and I have now decided to complain to the authorities in the Ministry of Home Affairs and the police command. One of the senior officers we spoke to said that the inspector was justified to seize my phone because it is an offence to film police operations. I have some serious questions to ask about such a law if it does exist. If I find an officer under attack in the cause of his duty and I film the incident to help the police prosecute the people or person attacking the officer will it be considered an offence? Is a road block mounted for the purpose of controlling traffic or checking motorists who may commit different traffic offences a state secret which should not be filmed? Is the Lilayi roundabout which I wanted to film or any other roundabout a restricted area in relation to any state security? Are the insults of an officer manning a speed check point also a state secret? If ever there is any law which forbids the public from recording the misconduct of police officers at road blocks, it must be revoked immediately. The police command and all the authorities know that there is a lot of corruption at road blocks and we require transparency and other deterrents to minimise abuse. All organisations that are concerned about the scourge of corruption in our country, must immediately start lobbying for the removal of this retrogressive law without delay. Our country should in fact pass a law to compel officers to wear cameras at all road blocks. Here is an officer who mounted a suspicious road block, in a zone where there was no supporting evidence, victimising citizens for merely questioning his actions and attempting to record evidence. The phone that he is holding is my lifeline; it has my bank accounts, my medical records, my emails, emergency numbers for my doctor and hospital. I am still wondering why there has been no effort to call me to be charged if I committed any offence or to be given my phone back with an apology. Maybe my phone is on Katondo Street or the phone grab was an attempted robbery. Yours truly, TROUBLESHOOTER. ecchipalo@yahoo.co.uk/ pentvisi