Lusaka Province Minister Bowman Lusambo has insisted that he and his crack squad have stopped arresting citizens but they will continue to whip those found drinking in bars because they are behaving like two year olds who can’t reason for themselves.

And Lusambo invited his social media critics to collect free talk time from his office so that they can carry on attacking him as he continues safeguarding the lives of citizens.

Meanwhile, Lusambo has urged citizens to be weary of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) which have contributed to the spread of COVID-19 in many countries.

Speaking when he featured on Radio Phoenix Let the people talk, Tuesday, Lusambo warned that he was currently moving with whips in his car to pounce on those found wanting.

“They are adults, the good thing is that they have this information and they know that there is this disease it’s real, it’s everywhere, they know. We have come with a new strategy as the provincial administration and when you come to my vehicle, you will find I am moving with a lot of whips, I am moving with a crack squad with me, if we find you drinking, we are not even going to compromise with you. Many countries have suspended human rights, including UK and America, they have suspended human rights by coming up with the provision of locking up people. So they want to be thinking like 2 year old babies, an adult thinking like a 2 year old waiting for the government to control them to start thinking like adults,” Lusambo said.

“If you want us to be policing your own life, we will do so by trying to control you like the way we control our kids at home. The way I control my babies at home, that is the way I am going to do the people out there, those adults who are thinking in reverse. If you are thinking in reverse, we are here as Lusaka provincial administration to help thinking forward so that you know that whatever things we which we are talking about, it’s not a joke, it’s real. And we have even stopped arresting those people. Arresting those people will just contribute to congestion in police cells and congestion in police cells it is going to be a risk to the people there because they can contract this disease at any given time.”

He expressed concern about the state of public transport in the city but promised that the ministry of Transport and Communications was doing its best to handle the situation.

“We are worried about buses and I know as Lusaka Province, we are very worried, not only the buses from outside but the local buses as well. We are worried as Lusaka provincial administration and we have expressed our concern to the minister in charge of transport and communication and I know that as a ministry, they are doing everything possible to communicate to us other measures because the president gave the measures which was national measures but as a ministry, they can do everything possible to put other measures by comparing notes with the president but you know, Zambian economy is very small and I know that the President of the Republic of Zambia, is doing everything possible to balance the equation between the pandemic, the measures and also the running of the transport business,” he said.

And Lusambo invited his critics to collect free talk time from his office.

“We are going to do everything possible to contain this disease because that is the wish of the President. To see to it that as Zambia, we contain this disease. United we will win this fight, divided we won’t win this fight. That’s why as provincial administration, we will be more physical this time around, we will be more physical and for those people who want to condemn us on social media, I will encourage them to come and get more talk time from my office so that they can continue condemning us. We are there to protect the lives of our people,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lusambo warned citizens to be careful as they used ATMs.

“We have already visited Absa Cairo road and we advised the manager there, what we found on Saturday I think it was worrisome to us also and as a minister for Lusaka Province I was very worried, because I have enough problems in Lusaka province and I can’t afford many more problems to come to my province. I think the Absa Cairo road is not helping us as residents of this great city of Lusaka. I had a talk with the manager there over the weekend and from this show actually, I will be talking to Mizinga Melu who is MD for Absa Zambia to see how best we can work together to reduce the queues on those ATMs,” said Lusambo.

“One of the easiest ways of getting this disease actually is through ATMs and they have contributed greatly to the number of cases in the world because of ATMs and shopping mall trolleys because some of the people are infected with this disease by knowing that they are infected, they are just going rapidly to go and contaminate these trolleys and ATMs. The managers on these outlets especially the manager for Absa Cairo I think she is failing us in the sense she has failed to help us as Lusaka province by engaging the clients who are visiting that branch, especially the ATMs outside.”