Maravi

Kabonde is unprofessional

Kabonde is unprofessional
By Editor
Thu 27 May 2010, 04:00 CAT

RUPIAH Banda and Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha are defending Inspector General of Police Francis Kabonde because they have interests to protect.

We say this because there are enough reasons for Kabonde to be excluded or even suspended from the Zambia Police Service. There are investigations being conducted by the law enforcement agencies on the police command over the irregular procurement of VIP police escort vehicles and motorbikes and three armoured BMW vehicles for the President.

And Kabonde has been among those interrogated, the investigators have even recorded a warn and caution statement from him over this matter. This man is being investigated by his juniors and one cannot help but wonder how they are working since he is their boss.

But Kabonde’s continued stay in office is not an oversight. It is deliberate because he is serving Rupiah and Shikapwasha’s interests. Given this background, you can’t expect such a policeman to be fair and objective. Kabonde is hanging on at Rupiah’s discretion, so he is not in a position to be objective. His behaviour shows in all matters and it was glaring in the recent Mufumbwe by-election. In Mufumbwe, he was nothing but an extension of the MMD.

He is a danger to national stability but they are keeping him because he is serving them. However, the consequences will be too ghastly because it might lead to a breakdown of law and order. Our police service is too small to manage the country’s population of over 12 million Zambians in the event that people decided to take the law into their own hands. If half the population of Lusaka or people in all our country’s districts decided to engage in civil disobedience, the police cannot manage to do anything. Rupiah and his friends need to learn from other countries where people have marched to presidential palaces with the police watching helplessly, countries where conflicts have broken out. There is need to listen to people’s concerns.

What the people are saying is not out of malice against Kabonde, it is a question of being concerned about the safety and security of our country. We cannot have a police chief who is prepared to compromise security and encourage lawlessness all in a bid to ingratiate himself to his political masters. But this is what Kabonde has been doing. His conduct in Mufumbwe was so shameful that a self-respecting professional would have resigned on his own. It is clear that the violence that characterised the Mufumbwe by-election was state-sponsored and happened under the protection of Kabonde.

We say this because there were some very disturbing things that happened in Mufumbwe that have never been properly investigated. Kabonde’s lack of professionalism has been clear for all to see. This newspaper carried disturbing pictures of an injured Charles Kakoma who is opposition United Party for National Development member of parliament for Zambezi West. But what has Kabonde done about that particular incident? We have not heard any pronouncements about anyone having been arrested in connection with the unprovoked and clearly politically-motivated violent attack on Kakoma.

It was not only Kakoma who was assaulted. There were many others. The Solwezi Central United Party for National Development member of parliament Watson Lumba was also assaulted. No one has been arrested or even questioned in connection with these assaults. There are many low-ranking opposition party cadres who were brutally attacked for whom no justice has been solved. It is also publicly known that the son of the losing MMD candidate in the Mufumbwe by-election bashed and killed three people, who were celebrating the opposition victory. But what have the police done about this? To them this is not an offence that needs to be acted on. And yet we saw the fanfare that characterised the arrest of Lumba on allegations of creating violence in Mufumbwe. Why is it that there is no MMD cadre arrested over the violence that happened in Mufumbwe? Is it because they were not responsible for the violence? We don’t think so. It’s all a question of Kabonde’s lack of professionalism. This is why he is useful to Rupiah Banda, because we do not think that Rupiah would tolerate the arrest and prosecution of party cadres who were involved in trying to secure a win for his party.

But this is not the correct use of our judicial processes. To use the police and Kabonde in particular to fight MMD political fights will not help our country at all. As we have said before, this will lead our country into anarchy and Rupiah must stop this nonsense forthwith or bear responsibility of the consequences. Our people have felt cheated about too many things and should not be expected to always accept being short-changed even on things that are straightforward. If Kabonde was being professional, no one would be calling for his removal.

As we said earlier, Kabonde is now a lame duck inspector general of police. He is facing what appears to be very credible and very serious allegations of abuse of authority. Even on that score, Rupiah’s government has been defending Kabonde. Why should the government insist on working with somebody who has clearly failed in his job and on top of that is facing criminal charges?

There was something that Frederick Chiluba used to do that was interesting to observe. It was cynical and a cruel way of dealing with another human being. Observing Chiluba, one could not avoid seeing that on many occasions he wanted to work with people that had problems. If they did not have problems when he started working with them, he found problems for them.

And in this way it was easy to manipulate otherwise descent people into doing things that many have lived to regret. Chiluba gave favours, which left people indebted to him in one way or the other. It is not surprising that many people that worked with him abdicated their professional responsibilities and simply did what Chiluba wanted or what they thought he wanted.

We see a similarity in the way that Rupiah is dealing with the Kabonde issue.

Because Kabonde feels grateful for being kept in a job where he should not be, it seems he is quite prepared to do whatever he believes is going to please Rupiah. This is what explains his shameful conduct in Mufumbwe. The whole Inspector General of Police running for cover together with opposition leaders as MMD cadres attacked the police station where he was and yet no one was arrested. What was Kabonde doing in Mufumbwe anyway? Why did the entire Inspector General of Police go to cover the by-election in Mufumbwe? Why was he not covering Milanzi? This is why we say the whole violence in Mufumbwe was orchestrated and from the way Kabonde has been behaving, he was right in the middle of it. This is why he has failed to move against the known MMD cadres who were bussed into Mufumbwe to cause mayhem. But Rupiah should not cheat himself that a lame duck police chief is useful to him. Those who surround themselves with unprincipled spineless advisors end up committing atrocities for which they pay very dearly. This is more critical in the area of law and order. Everybody needs it, government and opposition. A failure in the law and order of our country will affect everybody. Rupiah should reflect on this matter very carefully. What happened in Mufumbwe could happen elsewhere and Rupiah will only have himself to blame for the consequences that flow to him if he refuses to act above partisan interest. Kabonde is unprofessional and cannot be relied upon to lead our police force in ensuring public safety for all.

Labels: CORRUPTION, FRANCIS KABONDE, POLITICAL VIOLENCE

posted by MrK @ 2:53 PM