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Malupenga challenges police to arrest MMD cadres harassing Post journalists

Malupenga challenges police to arrest MMD cadres harassing Post journalists
Written by Chibaula Silwamba
Thursday, June 11, 2009 12:52:20 PM

POST managing editor Amos Malupenga yesterday challenged the Zambia Police Service to arrest MMD cadres that have been harassing the newspaper's journalists the way they have arrested PF cadres who beat up their colleagues.

Commenting on the police's arrest of some Patriotic Front (PF) members that beat up and allegedly abducted two fellow PF members that were holding a media briefing denouncing their leaders, Malupenga said there was hypocrisy in the way the police, senior government officials and MMD leaders were handling political violence in the country.

"As we join those individuals and organisations that have condemned the violent acts we saw on TV from those PF loyalists against their fellow party members, we wish to observe that there is a lot of hypocrisy or double-standards on this matter of political violence. We say this because it appears this issue of political violence is being fought selectively," Malupenga said.

"Our journalists have been physically and verbally abused by known MMD cadres. We have complained to the police and to the President [Rupiah Banda]; there has been no action. Instead of acting on our complaint, the police inspector general Mr Francis Kabonde said he was going to have a meeting with me to find the way forward on this violence. Instead of condemning the violence, the chief government spokesperson [Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha] together with several government officials and ruling party officials have endorsed this violence."

Malupenga said it was strange that the police had acted swiftly in the case of the PF cadres when in fact they had not acted on the case of MMD cadres who committed similar offences.

"We were surprised to see the speed at which the police moved in effecting arrests of those PF cadres. What is the difference between the violence from PF cadres and the violence from MMD cadres?" Malupenga asked.

"We have provided pictures of MMD cadres harassing our journalists to the police, to the President as well as the chief government spokesperson and MMD national secretary [Katele Kalumba]; they are all quiet. When the violence perpetrated by PF cadres was reported, it were these same government and party officials who were in the forefront calling for the arrest of the PF cadres. These are the double-standards we are talking about. We have always said that there is no one who is above the law."

Malupenga observed that the Zambia Police Service was shamelessly exposing itself as an MMD police.

"The police are supposed to serve everyone regardless of his status or political inclination. It is a shame for the police to display themselves as an MMD police and not Zambia police. We are looking forward to see how they are going to address the MMD violence against our journalists," said Malupenga.

"So we would like to urge the police and all peace loving Zambians to stand for peace and justice and ensure that all law breakers, regardless of their positions or political affiliations, should be punished and not protected as we are seeing in the case of MMD cadres."

Labels: AMOS MALUPENGA, CADRES, MMD, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, PRESS FREEDOM, THE POST

posted by MrK @ 11:51 AM