APOLOGY NOT ACCEPTED, GARY MUST RESIGN
WE refuse to accept the half-hearted apology that Gary Nkombo, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development has rendered to the woman whom he abused by forc ing her and her children to drink Kachasu against their will.
It is clear that Gary has been forced to apologise out of public outrage and not be cause he is remorseful for his sadistic behaviour against the poor woman and her children.
To begin with, the head quarters of Kachasu brew ing is Kaleya, in Mazabuka, where Gary happens to be the Member of Parliament. Why is Gary failing to en force the law in his own constituency but is quick to harass our poor women in Garden compound? This is the hypocrisy that we have been talking about.
What Gary did is crimi nal and is punishable by law. According to Articles 15 and 18 of the Constitution of the Republic of Zambia, subject ing a person to inhumane or degrading treatment is a criminal offence. Further, Section 231 of the Penal Code, Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia states that:
“Any person who unlawful ly, and with intent to injure or annoy another, causes any poison or noxious thing to be administered to, or taken by any person, and thereby en dangers his life, or does him some grievous harm, is guilty of a felony and is liable to im prisonment for a period not exceeding fourteen years”
As a Minister, it is the duty and responsibility of Gary to protect the poor and the weak, especially women and children against any form of abuse or ill-treatment.
Instead of destroying the source of livelihood for our poor mothers distill ing Kachasu, the UPND Government should engage them and offer alternative sources of income generating activities.
It is unfortunate that the UPND regime is proving to be a government of the rich for the rich; it only cares and protects the interests of the rich and foreign business entities like foreign-owned mining companies.
These people do not care about the poor, they do not care about ordinary Zambians, they only care about themselves, their rich friends and foreign business entities, no wonder Gary has the audacity to demolish make-shift structures of the poor in Mandevu and other compounds but he conve niently ignores the same ille galities when committed by the affluent in our society.
While we welcome the statement from the Human Rights Commission, con demning the vile behaviour of Mr. Nkombo, it falls far short of the expectations of the Zambians.
The HRC should not just end at issuing statements of condemnation; they must take appropriate legal action against the minister to make him an example to others that such wanton abuse of human rights shall not be condoned.
It is worrying that women’s and children’s lobby groups have opted to remain mute while senior government of ficials are freely abusing poor women and children in the full glare of the media.
What is wrong with our civil society organisations; why have they opted to re main quiet in the face of such gross abuse and violation of the rights of vulnerable members of our society?
What Gary did by asking the poor woman to choose between being locked up by the Police or to drink kacha su looks like it is the normal character of the UPND; and if we deeply analyse that sad episode, they party is getting used to having scandal after scandal and they think it is normal. In the last eight months, they have commit ted more scandals than all the previous Governments put together.
We know that President Hakainde Hichilema has no spine to fire Gary as evi denced by his failure to act against Minister of Pens and Calendars, Minister of Fertiliser, Minister of Misinformation, Minister of Zesco poles, Minister of Black Mountain, Minister of Milingo/DPP Immunity as well as his State House staff.
However, in the interest of justice and to preserve hu manity and curb the excesses of the UPND leaders, Gary Nkombo must resign with out any delay.
In May, 2014 the PF Government carried out a raid in Chibolya and arrest ed several people who were in possession of illicit drugs but we did not force any of the culprits to consume the drugs because we have re spect for the law and respect for human rights.
As a party, the Patriotic Front is not interested in playing politics with this matter, it is not a political matter but purely a human rights issue. However, if Gary does not step down on his own, we will be left with no choice but to escalate the matter further.