Rainbow Party leader Wynter Kabimba says if the police does not take urgent action against individuals who are giving unsolicited statements that they know the people behind the gassing attacks, the public will be right to speculate that the state is involved.

And Kabimba says the Constitution Amendment Bill Number 10 of 2019 has polarized Zambia.

In his address to the nation via the Rainbow Party Facebook Page, Wednesday, Kabimba said if the police were not in cahoots with the gassers, they should compel those claiming to have information about the masterminds of the gassings to help in investigations.

“If an individual citizen voluntarily gives an unsolicited statement that they have information about this gassing situation and they that they actually have information on how it was hatched and who hatched it, I think those individuals must be invited by the police and the security wings to give them the intelligence and the evidence. If that is not done, then the police become complicit in the incidents that are happening. I want to appeal to you, countrymen and women, that this is our country. These people you are killing in compounds are your relatives, they are your friends’ relatives who don’t know anything. Instead, ask the police about those claiming to know about the masterminds of these gassings. The line that you are taking in communities to be lynching each other is not what is going to help this country. Let us have confidence in our security wings to bring this matter to control,” Kabimba said.

He also appealed to President Edgar Lungu to address the nation on the gassing situation and give hope to those that were living in fear.

“Our country seems to be in a crisis in the sense that citizens of this country are living in fear. The citizens of this country are unable to have a quiet and peaceful night because they just do not know whether or not they will be the next victims of these gassings. The reason for this is that government has not come out. I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to the President to address this nation and calm this nation down and tell us exactly what is going on. Since these incidences started, more than 10 people have lost their lives. Innocent lives have been lost. I have an incident myself of one of my former workers who had left his house three days ago early in the morning around 5.00am to go and look for a piece of work to do so that he could feed his family. He was descended upon by a mob in the community in which he lived and accused that he is one of the perpetrators of the gassings,” he said.

“This must be a matter of grave concern to the government. Luckily for us, we have individuals that have told this country, publicly, that they know how this plot of gassing was hatched as far back as five years ago! I want to appeal to the security wings to invite these individuals so that they can go and give the evidence they have to help the police in investigating this culture, which has come to emanate in our country today. I don’t think that it is fair for individuals to make statements like these when the situation is so serious when innocent people are losing lives and the security wings are able to identify such individuals and allow them to keep quiet without inviting them to help the police. I think it is high time that the police moved in.”

And Kabimba said Bill 10 had polarized the country, further appealing to citizens to resort to violence whenever they were met with dissenting views.

“Bill 10 has polarized our country. It is contentious. That is how we are going to grow our democracy. There is no need for us to resort to violence or intimidation or cohesion because, at the end of the day, the majority win. Can’t we learn from other countries? Let’s learn to engage each other in debates. Let’s learn to agree and to disagree. Let’s learn to be persuasive with one another in the expression and the cross-pollination of our ideas,” said Kabimba.

“If we are going to be a democracy, we must tolerate each other’s views. Democracy is not about what you only think. It is also about what other people think. If you want to disagree with them, do it in a persuasive way, but not using violence. At the Intercontinental Hotel, there were guests there, tourists and this will damage the image of our country to tourists and to those that would want to come and invest in our country because we will be perceived as a violent nation!”