HOME Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo says Monze residents are lucky that President Edgar Lungu forgave them after he was booed because if they did that to him, police officers would have beaten them up.

And Kampyongo says the government is constructing houses for security wings, something that has never happened since independence.

Speaking on Kasama Radio, Monday evening, Kampyongo said residents of Monze were lucky that President Edgar Lungu had a good heart and forgave them.

“…Nangu kulya kwine bachitile umungulu, tulefuma mukuchita imilimo twapela abantu ama yanda. Waisa sanga utubantu utwasonkotwa tulya twalepunda umungulu tule punda epo alepita kateka. Nomba epo ungamona abantu abafulungana. Tekuma politics twaile olo kuma campaign, twaile pela abantu amayanda. Kwali nokupela impanga ya parish ba Monze parish iyo balombeleko apakuti bakakule ama kule yamo. Kanshi bakateka baile muktwala ama title deeds. Emilimo twayendele ku Monze. Nomba tulefuma pa church, elo twaisa sanga utubantu natwiminina pa musebo tule sota kateka. Ala niichofye kateka alikwata umutima ukalolo, mwati nifwe ba Kampyongo ngamwalilumfwile. Pantu nga twa bapashile nga ama panga (In Monze where the residents misbehaved, we were from commissioning housing units then we found people lined up on the road booing the President. That is where you can see that they are confused people. We didn’t go to Monze for politics or campaigns, we merely went to commission houses and give land to the Monze Parish, they had asked for land so the President took title deeds. That is what we went for in Monze. But just when we were coming from the Church, we found people lined up in the road booing. It’s good that the President has got a good heart, if it was me, you would have heard it for yourselves. We would have scattered them,” Kampyongo said.

“Aba ba kapokola imilimo bakwata number one yaku sopa umutende wakwa kateka wa chalo. Tewaku twalilako ama sange. Neicho kateka alikwata imisula atile ‘nachibe ifyo fine.’ Lelo, abafunyapo ukuchila filya bale sosota awe nga mwali umfwile. Pantu imilimo bakwata aba kufulula nemilopa kuti yasuminapo. Paku sunga umuntu ulya tutila kateka wa chalo. Pantu nicho fye twali kwata umuntu mu Christian atile lekeni babe natupite tulebomba imilimo tulebomba (One of the jobs the police officers have is to protect the President. You cannot play around with the presidency. The President ignored them, that is why he said ‘just let them be.’ If it was me, you would have heard for yourselves. The police officers are mandated to maintain law and order even if it means beating people until they bleed just to protect the President. It is just that we have a President who is a Christian, he said ‘let us ignore them and continue with our works’),”

And Kampyongo said government would soon roll out the second phase of the project to construct houses for police officers.

“We first went to Mpulungu where our police officers were staying in houses made from iron sheets. I am sure you have gone to Mbala and seen the houses there. It was as if they were working on a temporary basis. So we looked into that in the first phase, we constructed 2,350 housing units. We know that it is not only in Mpulungu or Mbala where our officers are staying in deplorable houses but it is everywhere. We built 25 medium cost housing units in Mpulungu so that at least they come out of the land of Egypt and taken to Canaan. It was a sorry sight, I don’t even know if their in-laws were coming to visit in such houses. We know that we can’t build the houses at the same time, Rome wasn’t built in a day. We will soon roll out phase two of the project),” Kampyongo said in Bemba.

He said the project would cover the entire country.

“Last month, we were in Southern Province where we commissioned houses with the President. We were in Monze where we were commissioning over 70 housing units for officers from the Zambia Correctional Facility. After that, we went to Mazabuka where we commissioned housing units for the police officers. They had a challenge of accommodation, it was a sorry sight. They made houses using soil. So we are taking this development across the country. The vision late president Michael Sata left, President Lungu has continued with it. This has never been done since independence. Some of the police houses were built in 1954, for instance in Kafue. I was commissioning houses in Kafue last week, and the area member of parliament [Mirriam Chonya] who is from the UPND commended our works and the standard of the housing units. You know that an enemy cannot praise you, no matter what you do but surely, you can appreciate good works,” said Kampyongo.