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Zambia: How Safe is Public From Police Officers?
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The Times of Zambia (Ndola)
19 November 2007
Posted to the web 19 November 2007
Margaret Mangani
Ndola
Armed with a police AK 47 assault rifle, the man opened fire on his defenceless father-in-law, George Sinyama, killing the 65-year-old instantly.
As if that were not enough, he turned the gun on his seven-month-pregnant wife, Sinola, whom he was suspecting of having an extra-marital affair and fired at her. The wife was not as unfortunate as her father, and ended up in hospital nursing bullet wounds.
All this happened in full view of the scared and helpless family and members of the public who scampered for safety. Later, the man turned the gun on himself in an alleged suicide bid but only managed to graze himself on a cheek. This is not a line from a crime movie but a real life story in the Avondale residential area in Lusaka, and the violent act was not coming from just an ordinary member of the public.
The shooting orgy was coming from the hands of a policeman, Sekelani Ngulube, in just one of the many cases of policemen indiscriminately turning their guns on the very people they are supposed to be protecting. As rightly observed by the police command, there is need to give urgent attention to this sad development.
Otherwise, overzealous officers who are in the habit of ignoring procedures on how to handle firearms will continue to perpetrate the bizarre act.
Therefore, one cannot afford to cast a blind eye to the sequence of events which have taken a toll on the lives of the members of the public.
The perpetrators of such acts should be brought to book and there is need to curb this blood spillage. Police spokesperson, Bonny Kapeso, told the nation after the Avondale incident that seven rounds of ammunition were recovered from the shooting scene and promised that the matter would be dealt with professionally, ensuring that Ngulube was taken into custody after recovering from his bullet wound.
Home Affairs minister, Ronnie Shikapwasha, described the shooting incident as unfortunate and uncalled for, directing Commissioner of Police, Francis Kabonde, to withdraw firearms from irresponsible officers to reduce such occurrences.
Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha said police officers were adequately on how to handle firearms and should, therefore, not use them carelessly.
In another incident a few days earlier in Chaisa township, police fought running battles with residents when word went round that a police officer had been identified by the widow of businessman Stanley Halwindi as being part of a gang that stormed their house demanding money after which they shot him in cold blood with an AK 47 rifle.
In yet another shooting incident involving police officers on September 8, a senior officer died after he shot himself in the head in unclear circumstances.
Superintendent, Mushembei Mwangala, formerly of C1 Chelston police camp, allegedly took his own life using a service pistol, which he hid in a bathing towel. Mwangala sneaked out of the house when his wife thought that he was heading to the bathroom but she and her neighbours were shocked to hear a bang. Later, the officer was found sprawled on the ground in a pool of blood.
Adding voice to these occurrences involving police officers and guns is Human Rights Commission director, Enoch Mulembe, describing the whole episode as unfortunate adding that the Zambia Police should account for every life taken by a police officer in the line of duty.
"It is unfortunate that innocent and defenseless persons have their lives shortened by trigger-happy officers and the Commission calls for immediate measures to be put in place to curb this vice," he said.
He stated that the Zambian people were not interested in a Police Service with absolute power to kill but in a service that respected life and provided clear and transparent accountability to the public in the event of a discharge of firearms.
"The commission hopes that strict measures will be put in place to avoid the integrity of the Zambia police being continually jeopardised by unprofessional officers," he said. Mr Mulembe also noted that it ought to be made clear that firearms were not issued to police officers in order to turn them into killers and assassins, but to enable them undertake their duties effectively in the interest of maintaining law and order.
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Mr Mulembe said while it was difficult for the police service to control such moments of insanity as exhibited in the case of the Avondale shooting, it was critical that police authorities ensured that laid down guidelines were followed in the use of firearms by officers.
He said a critical look at the matter actually also brought to light the police attitude at the way firearms were disbursed to officers.
The question that continues to be asked is whether the Zambian people are eally safe at the hands of unpredictable police officers entrusted with the duty of protecting human life.
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| Copyright © 2007 The Times of Zambia. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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