IG MUSAMBIA A PROFESSIONAL?

ZAMBIA Police Service Inspector General Graphael Musamba has a lot of work to convince the nation that he is doing his work in a professional manner and nonpartisan.

Mr Musamba, who is not quite media friendly opened up in an interview on Monday as he reacted to a critical write up from renowned scholar Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa.

Dr Sishuwa branded the Inspector General of Police as President Hakainde Hichilema’s moniker employed to implement evil works against citizens with dissenting views and opinions.

But in his write up, Dr Sishuwa stated that Mr Musamba was President Hichilema’s chief enforcer, stating that he (Musamba) was the person who did the dirty work which the head of State did not want to be seen to be doing or sanctioning.

“He (Mr Musamba) is someone working for a boss whose curated image would suffer for his direct association with their dishonourable and nefarious acts…” Dr Sishuwa said.

Much as Mr Musamba would want Zambians to believe that he operates in a professional manner, his actions and attitude towards the opposition betray him.

He is on record of having described the opposition political leaders as trouble makers and has vowed that he would not allow them to hold public rallies as that would attract junkies, a favourite word of his.

Mr Musamba believes that this is not the time for campaigning, forgetting that there is no time-frame for a political party to mobilise its members.

If anything, mobilising starts immediately after general elections have been held and a winner declared. That is a right that he has denied the opposition parties to enjoy – to articulate their political aspirations with their members.

Already, tension is brewing that could escalate into clashes as the United Kwacha Alliance has organised to hold a public rally in Kafue which the police command is not in favour of.

The constitution only stipulates that the organisers only need to give the Zambia Police notice of their intention to hold a meeting for them to provide the necessary security.

Mr Musamba however insists that the security situation does not entail the holding of public rallies yet the political leadership, from President Hichilema proudly speak about the peace prevailing in the country.

Mr Musamba must also own up that the police service has been compromised and has played a key role in destabilising the opposition, particularly the Patriotic Front, the former ruling party.

As Dr Sishuwa noted, “Think of the police guarding an illegal assembly of Miles Sampa rather than stopping it! Think of the police effectively banning public rallies by opposition parties since the election of Mr Hichilema in 2021,” Dr Sishuwa said.

Moreover, how does Mr Musamba explain the orchestrated arbitrary arrest of opposition political party members ahead of the Ndola and Kitwe deputy mayoral elections recently.

This is the more reason why the the Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG) is concerned that on March 28, 2024, Mr Kalyati and two PF Kitwe councillors were arrested on undisclosed charges by police on the eve of deputy mayoral elections.

CCMG spokesperson Father Alex Muyebe said the arrests of the civic leaders prevented them from participating in the deputy mayoral elections which saw UPND candidates win by a narrow margin.

Can Mr Musamba convince anyone that the service did not connive with an outside entity to carry out these arrests?

Clearly, the police chief has a lot of work to prove his professionalism.