Nkeyema UPND member of parliament Kapelwa Mbangweta says the Zambia Police has abandoned its call to serve the nation and is now serving the ruling Patriotic Front.

Speaking when he featured on News Feedback program on Pan African Radio yesterday, Mbangweta said the police were selective in the application of the law.

“The police have forgotten that they should serve all of us. They have chosen to serve a few which is a violation of our constitution. First of all, the police are funded by the public, ourselves. Their mandate is to keep law and order. Secondly, the police must be professional by implementing the rules and regulations as approved by the competent authorities in our country because these rules reflect what the Zambian people want. The police must not be selective. The police must be professional to do what they are supposed to do without any hindrance,” Mbangweta said.

“The typical example of those in authority found wanting is when they said ‘UPND should not hold a rally on a Sunday because there is cholera in Kanyama…’ That is fine, but the point is, two days later, they themselves called people including us in UPND to go and congregate in the show grounds. Surely does that make sense? Is it in line with the requirement of our constitution on the issue of discrimination and equity?”

Mbangweta said in a democracy, the law does not only favour those who serve in government.

“Being in the ruling party which has formed government does not give you the right to be above the law. This law and Constitution is what the Zambian people want and wanted. And so you people who end up in government must not hijack what the Zambian people have agreed that should apply to them. Democracy is good for Zambia. We can have different perspectives, its acceptable, but lets have rules which are applied fairly, consistently and across the board. If we do that, we will have no conflicts. The challenges will arise but we will be able to resolve them,” said Mbangweta.

“Our position is to encourage the PF to make sure that they comply with the rule of law. Let’s be fair to each other even if we are competing. We must listen carefully to each other because those different perspectives and diversity is what is supposed to enrich our society. If there were challenges, they must be across the board and not only apply to the biggest political party, UPND under HH. It shouldn’t be like that. It should also apply to the PF. The PF are able to hold their meetings and rallies at their desired time. How are they able to do that? The PF cadres are even capable of threatening the police that ‘if this rally is going to be held, somebody will go back home in a wheelchair’ and nothing happens. The issue is that the PF should comply with the rule of law but we have seen that they have got difficulties to do that.”