RAINBOW party general secretary Wynter Kabimba says people should stop giving Lusaka Province Minister Bowman Lusambo a status which he does not deserve because he will soon return to “being nothing”.

And Kabimba Deputy Inspector General of Police Bonny Kapeso acted arbitrarily when he transferred a Lusaka traffic officer who was involved in an altercation with a Patriotic Front (PF) cadre to Western province.

Reacting to Lusambo’s statement that people should stop questioning his source of wealth, Kabimba said ill-acquired riches would always find their way back to their true owners.

“Why are you worried about Bowman? Bowman will go back to where he came from. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. You are just promoting people that we are not supposed to be promoting. Who was Bowman Lusambo just a few years ago? He is Bowman Lusambo today? Just because of the office that he holds? After that office, he will be nothing again. So, let us not spend energy on him. Even on what he has become, people are just grandstanding it. The more attention you give him, the more you give him the status which he doesn’t even deserve. There were people who were bigger than Bowman Lusambo in UNIP. There is a Nigerian saying to the effect that ‘wealth will find its way back to its true owners.’ So, if you [fraudulently] acquired wealth, it doesn’t matter how much you boast about it, it will leave you and it will go back to its true owners who are the people of that country or society,” Kabimba said.

“So, I want to take a different view myself. Commenting about Bowman Lusambo is actually lowering each other. You remember what they used to call him in MMD? He was called a ‘die hard.’ Did he even become district chairman? No. Did he even become provincial chairman? No. Was he even appointed just as district commissioner? No. So, don’t worry about his excitement. Time is the best teacher to all of us. There was a post which had gone viral about the former advisor to Congo DRC’s ex-president Mobutu Sese Seko who was begging on the streets. He doesn’t even have a pair of shoes on. That is what happens when you get excited with ill-gotten wealth in public office. So please, the more Bowman sees a statement from me, the more he looks important than what he is.”

And Kabimba said Kapeso acted arbitrary when he demoted a Lusaka Traffic Police officer who was involved in an altercation with a PF cadre.

“The action by the deputy IG was definitely arbitrary because a police officer is governed by conditions of service and those conditions of service also include the disciplinary code under which action can be taken against him. And according to the Public Service guidelines, if one has committed an offence, they must be communicated to in writing and they must be given time within which they can respond to those charges. And then if there are any further investigations to be done, that is when you can investigate the matter. But to respond to an altercation and listen to one side and take action is arbitrary and it is totally against the laid down procedure or disciplinary framework,” Kabimba said.

Kabimba encouraged the affected officer to seek legal redress.

“I think we need to encourage that officer to seek redress in a court of law so that justice can prevail. If we continue with this pride on social media happenings, arbitrariness in government offices will continue and people will take it as a culture to say ‘they will talk and the matter will end in a few days’. If we were serious about these things, people should be saying ‘go and see a lawyer and if you need money, we shall contribute money so that justice can prevail’. Issues like that should be challenged so that Kapeso realizes that that’s not how he should please his boss. That is why even the murder suspects go to court. They go to court for the court as an independent tribunal to establish whether or not this person clearly or intentionally killed somebody,” Kabimba said.

Kabimba wondered how transferring an officer to Western Province would change his behavior, adding that Kapeso’s decision was based on his feelings and not the law.

“Now, if someone can use arbitrariness to one officer, how many more officers have suffered in his hands? I think that man should have been given an opportunity especially when the complainant is an active member of the PF or an active member of a political party. If it comes from a PF member against a member of the public, it should come to you that there is likelihood that it is a concocted story or it is a twisted story. But at the end of the day, we all need justice, and we all need to be treated with fairness. And if you are bad in Lusaka anyway, what is going to change if you are sent to Mongu? What is the difference? That decision is according to Mr Kapeso’s feeling and it is not intended to correct a wrong but it is intended to please his masters,” said Kabimba.