NATIONAL Democratic Congress (NDC) leader says newly appointed deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of operations Charity Katanga is not normal.

At a media briefing, Wednesday, Kambwili charged that by appointing Katanga and Richard Mweene as deputy inspector generals in charge of operations and administration respectively, President Edgar Lungu would set the country ablaze.

“You know, for me I speak with passion because I love this country and I have no qualms about anybody. President Edgar Lungu I regard him as my brother, HH is my brother, everybody is my brother and when I speak to advise like this, please listen…But sometimes I am misunderstood, it will not be long you will see the true colours of Katanga and Mweene. They will do something bigger than what has happened, killing two, we are going to have 20 people killed at a go. It’s not long ago Katanga was saying during the gassing, when we go to investigate people are turning into cats. Surely, how can somebody, a police officer even issue that statement ati ngatwaya muku mona mu ceiling board, ba aluka ba pushi (when we go to check in the ceiling, we find they have turned into cats). Just that will tell you that this person is not normal. How can somebody claim that aba gassing bale aluka ba pushi (these people gassing are turning into cats). Nga bale aluka ba pushi, ikateni pushi mumukomene tumone nga akaluka umunthu futi (if they are turning into cats, arrest the cat and see if it will turn back into a human being),” Kambwili said.

“So for me I have spoken, I have advised and advise is there to take or discard or leave it but by and large under the circumstances, Kanganja should have been fired, of course his two deputies but we should have found reasonable people, more reasonable people because we need to change the police, there must be police reforms and police reforms must be to the effect that the people who are running the command must be people with reasonable thinking and people who should respect the rule of law and Katanga does not respect the rule of law. What the President has done is not sorting or resolving this problem, to the contrary Mr President, you are setting Zambia ablaze by this decision. First and foremost, there is absolutely no way that when an institution is found wanting, who should take the blame, who should be responsible for Kapeso and Simbotwe? Certainly it’s the head of institution, who is the Inspector General of police. But why do you want to leave the inspector general of police continue in his position and then fire the deputy. That could have at least sorted out the problem and to make matters worse, to add salt to the injury, the two individuals that have been promoted.”

Kambwili said Katanga was the most brutal and unreasonable officer in the service.

“Mr President I can rest assure you, you’ve created more problems than we were in. In fact, this could be described as jumping from the frying pan into the actual fire. Katanga does not deserve to even commandeer not even a police station in a shanty compound. She is a lawyer, a trained lawyer but she is not reasonable. She is too brutal to the extent that when opposition leaders are arrested country men and women, she refuses for them to have access to a mattress and blankets. It happened to me, it happened to Geoffrey Mwamba and to HH. When I am arrested in Lusaka, I am allowed for my relatives to bring a small mattress, blankets and also a pillow. In the Copperbelt when you are arrested under Katanga, you are not allowed to have access, in fact what she does, she will sit at the Police station until about 01:00 hours to make sure that you don’t get a mattress. What kind of a human being is she? Does she deserve to be promoted to be in charge of operations in this country. The answer is a big no,” he said.

“During the Roan by election, PF brutalised the people, they went with matchetes and pangas and everything and killed Obed Kasongo. As we speak today country men and women, Katanga has refused the officer commanding Luanshya and the officer in charge Mapatamatu to go ahead and effect the arrests in the case of those who killed Kasongo, including Bowman Lusambo. She went there and started exhibiting the pangas that were collected from PF and said these pangas were actually collected from NDC. The Copperbelt Province has recorded the highest number of arrests for opposition members when they meet even at section level, at ward level under the instructions of Katanga. Do you expect, now that she is deputy inspector general in charge of operations where is Zambia going to be?”

He said Zambia Police needed reasonable people in leadership.

“For us to resolve this problem, we need to have leadership in the police that are reasonable, down to earth, who will have recourse to the law, let’s take for instance madam Katanga, Madam Katanga is the most brutal police officer that we have in this country at the moment. She is the most brutal police officer that we have in this country. She is very unreasonable, she doesn’t respect democracy, she doesn’t want to see the opposition and she can’t take any action against PF cadres and PF related individuals,” he said.

“My elder brother President Edgar Lungu please, yes you need to take action but the action that you have taken is not going to resolve this problem, it’s actually going to create more problems. If you take Kapeso and compare to Katanga, Kapeso is a more reasonable police officer by far in terms of brutality and not following the law than Katanga. This Mweene, he is the one who escorted us under gun, with guns, chasing us from Chilubi island, chasing us from the Chilubi campaign with guns, almost escorting us 100 km from Chilubi, that’s the person who is going to be in charge of administration, what are we telling the country, what are we telling the nation, what are we trying to achieve?”

And Kambwili said President Lungu was being misled.

“My dear brother President Edgar Lungu, I beg with you, leave a legacy that will stand the test of time. I fear that you are being misled, the people that are advising you are wrong people, they don’t love you, they don’t like you…Katanga does not allow any meeting on the Copperbelt, when you apply for a permit, [you are denied] for security reasons but the PF goes in to have meetings at will. And she is very brutal, extremely brutal, it’s just that police officers can’t speak. And you people from the Office of the President, you are not helping matters because the job of the people from the Office of the President is to pick information and advise the President. Police officers on the Copperbelt complain against Katanga that this woman doesn’t know how to work with people, she doesn’t know administration, for her it is brutality and it’s about her and her instructions. My heart bleeds, these two promotions of Mweene and Katanga I swear one day I will be vindicated and every time I speak about things, I get vindicated,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kambwili advised Kanganja to resign.

“And Kanganja even if the President did not fire you, my brother, do the most reasonable thing, resign on your own. Automatically by the President saying I am giving him six months to try and reorganise and then after six months a decision will be made, it simply means there is no confidence in you, the police needs to have the people’s confidence, people must have trust and confidence in the police service but at the moment the trust and confidence of people in the police service is at its lowest ever, people don’t trust the police then you and bring a brutal woman in the name of Katanga to be in charge of operations, cry my beloved country. I don’t know what legacy we want to leave,” said Kambwili.