FORMER home affairs minister Stephen Kampyongo has advised the police to conduct themselves professionally and not get excited by arresting opposition members.

Commenting on the recent arrest of Lusangazi PF aspiring council chairperson Patrick Banda who was charged with personation after he allegedly used a grade 12 Certificate which did not belong to him during nominations, Kampyongo wondered why the police only decided to effect the arrest now when the candidate in question had participated in other polls without problems in the past.

“These are the people that were saying that they will respect democracy for what it is. And one wonders why this person who has been a free citizen all long, all this time, he contested in 2016 as an independent candidate, he was a member of PF and he stood as an independent, no one arrested him. Today he has come back to the party, he has changed? Now [that] he has been adopted, it has become a problem? You know, we can’t have it that way. We expect that whether the chances are slim, just go and convince the people, that is all!” he said.

“It won’t win them [anything] by trying to cage our candidates and trying to intimidate him, he is a very popular candidate on the ground. I was in Lusangazi myself and went around with him in some wards and you can see that he is a people person. So, if there are issues, let them bail him out, let him continue to campaign.”

Kampyongo, who is also Shiwang’andu PF member of parliament, urged the police to act professionally so that they were not seen to be acting under pressure from anyone.

He argued that the PF regime never instructed the police to arrest anyone.

“Police should not be this excited as well, because it is important that they conduct themselves professionally so that they are not seen to be acting under pressure from anyone. Because they are the ones who are going to prosecute this person. They should bear in mind that there is no politician who is going to stand in the dock. So, it is important that just like we were not giving them such instructions, they shouldn’t be under pressure from anyone,” said Kampyongo.

“What else can you say because this man was also being chased by our competitors and when he stood his ground to say that he was going to PF, all sort of things started popping up. So, if he has got issues, let him compete, you can even follow him after the elections. But to start caging him, it is like throwing someone in the boxing ring with his hands tied. So, it is a very unfortunate story.”