LUSAKA Province PF executive secretary Kennedy Kamba says it is saddening to hear people calling the police with all sorts of names for manhandling Chishimba Kambwili’s wife, Carol, when she was on the wrong side of the law.

And Kamba says political commentators should not link President Edgar Lungu or the PF to Kambwili’s conviction because they have nothing to do with it.

In a voice note sent to News Diggers, Kamba argued that police should not be blamed for arresting Carol Kambwili because they were mandated to maintain law and order.

“Police officers by law are mandated to maintain law and order. It is, therefore, very imperative for every citizen to respect officers of the law. Zambia, being a democrat and a country of laws, has well laid-down procedures of handling matters, including a police officer if he/she misconducts himself. No one is above the law and no one can take the law into his own hands. We are saddened, today, that police are being called all sorts of names for arresting Mrs Carol Kambwili and her daughter, Chanda, at the Magistrates’ Court. We never wish misfortunes to befall anyone and what happened at court yesterday (Tuesday) was very unfortunate,” Kamba stated.

“We must, therefore, before we condemn the police, let us look at the issues objectively. We know very well that emotions were very high. The Kambwili family is going through hard times following the conviction of Mr Kambwili by the courts of law. But slapping a police officer at the Magistrates’ Court was way beyond the limit. In our culture, we respect women and the dignity of Mrs Kambwili and her daughter must be respected at all cost.”

And Kamba appealed to the opposition to be fair to the police in Carol’s case because the same had happened with his party cadres before.

“We further want to appeal to the opposition to be fair to the police and look at this matter objectively. Sometime back, PF cadres were beaten up and manhandled by the police officers, to be specific, our cadre, Mwelwa Chama, was beaten by police officers at the Magistrates’ Court when they went to offer solidarity to Dr Chitalu Chilufya (Health Minister) and everyone was saying, ‘well done’ to the police! Now that it suits them, they want to make the police service look like it is the biggest monster? This is unfair to the police service,” Kamba argued.

Meanwhile, Kamba stressed that it would be unfair for citizens to link President Lungu to Kambwili’s conviction because the opposition leader was in conflict with the law and not with the ruling party.

“We had a meeting with the police and the opposition UPND at a similar privilege where many issues to do with respecting the officers of the law were discussed. The police and the law must be respected regardless of the perpetrator of lawlessness. The police have the mandate to prosecute and implement the dictates of the law. We must respect their duties at all costs. And we appeal to the political commentators not to drag President Lungu or the PF in the court cases, which the NDC leader Chishimba Kambwili is facing. Dr Kambwili is in conflict with the law and not the PF or President Lungu. His case should not be politicised, and President Lungu or the PF have nothing to do with this case. We wish Kambwili and his family well,” stated Kamba.