POLICE Spokesperson Rae Hamoonga says officers transferred Socialist Party National Youth Secretary Gabriel Banda to Chongwe because all cells in Lusaka were filled to capacity at the time of his arrest.

And Hamoonga says police are not being used as a political tool as suggested by Socialist Party leader Dr Fred M’membe, arguing that citizens’ actions are what prompts arrests.

On Sunday, Dr M’membe questioned why police had transferred Banda, who was arrested for allegedly instigating riots and looting at the University of Zambia, to Kanakantapa Rural Police Post in Chongwe District when the crime occurred in Lusaka district.

But in an interview, Hamoonga explained that cells in Lusaka were filled to capacity hence the decision to take Banda to Chongwe.

“When this person was arrested, we had some operation as the police which necessitated us rounding up a lot of people or junkies around Lusaka. And because of that, our cells in Lusaka were filled to capacity. And the only place where we found space and where we placed him was where he is now, in Kanakantapa where there’s an empty cell,” Hamoonga said.

Asked about Dr M’membe’s remarks that whenever police were used as political tools by governments, the outcome was disastrous, Hamoonga argued that police were actually the number one defenders of human rights.

“As police, we look at the criminal aspect of individuals. If an individual commits a crime, regardless of which political party they are affiliated to, they are arrested. In the case of Gabriel Banda, the offence is very clear, he committed an offence. Of course he’s a member of their party but for us the message that we have for Mr M’membe is that police do not just wake up and decide on who they should arrest, it’s the actions of the citizens themselves that invite the police to come and visit them and give them appropriate charges. In this particular case, we have a case against him which he committed, and we are ready to submit it to court and be able to prove it in the court of law. So we are not being used as a political tool as it’s being insinuated. For us as police our eyes look out for offences, if you commit an offence, we will be able to arrest you, regardless of your political affiliation,” Hamoonga said.

“We are invited by your action as individuals, we are there to enforce the law. By the way, as police officers, we are law enforcers who are given this mandate by the citizens themselves. So when you break the law you’re actually upsetting the citizens themselves. As police, our role is to ensure that we defend the rights of the citizens. Police is the number one defender of human rights, as police we cannot talk about human rights without talking of policing. So police officers are actually number one defenders of human rights. When we defend other people’s human rights, it does not mean we are trying to suppress yours. We defend human rights, people who abrogate or infringe people’s rights will always complain because they want to do something which is wrong and then as police we tell them that you cannot do this because of this”.

Hamoonga wondered why the same people who accused police of being used as a political tool rushed to report cases to them.

“Tell me if you have never seen the same people that are complaining about the police coming to the police to come and report a case? Tell me any one of them who has never been to the police to complain? Tell me any of them who has never lodged a complaint to the police in their lifetime? We are proud of ourselves as a police service and that’s why we continue working to ensure that human rights are protected. We have even gone to the extent of being ready to die in defence of human rights for others,” said Hamoonga.

“What we are doing is a mandate given to us by the citizens of this country by way of giving us laws and also resources to enforce what we’re supposed to in this country. We’ve chosen to do this noble task, our satisfaction comes from not necessarily remuneration law, what makes us satisfied is when we find someone who is breaking the law, we arrest them, take them to court and they are convicted. We feel proud because that’s what we’ve chosen to do as police”.