LUSAKA, JULY 19, 2024 (CISA) – The Catholic Church in Zambia has denounced the growing practice where law enforcement agencies and individuals, purportedly acting on directives from higher authorities, fabricate false accusations and manufacture conditions to unlawfully detain people.
In a press statement from the Caritas- Integral Human Development –IHD Commission, chaired by Archbishop Alick Banda of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lusaka, the commission noted that “the culture and tradition of ‘fishing’ pieces of legislation for the purposes of sanitizing the illegalities and wrongdoings is on an alarming pace of increase.”
In what they termed as ‘legal lawlessness’, the commission said “We have observed with total disenchantment and displeasure at the manner the law enforcement institutions are using the law to accuse people selectively, and sometimes people who are innocent just because their conscience and position of belief is not in tandem with those in positions of power. Through dishonest and arbitrary determination to manufacture conditions for detaining people, the law enforcement officers are now regularly seen to be at liberty to determine with impunity whatever charge they apportion on someone, including the retroactive application of the law.”
Amid a deepening political rift in the nation, the commission pointed out the case of the expulsion of nine parliamentarians from the main opposition party – The Patriotic Front from the National Assembly, as a clear indicator of legal lawlessness.
“Sadly, this act of duress on the legislature by the executive will reverse the democratic gains that the country was steadily making. That the concupisense between the executive, legislature and judiciary militates against the norm of separation of government. That the feverish speed with which the nine (9) opposition members of parliament were expelled is a brazen violation of procedural standing orders of the house,” they noted.
The commission, which includes representatives from all the dioceses in Zambia emphasized that the move is a travesty to the country’s democratic gains in that “Never before in the history of this country has parliament been involved in handling the internal affairs of a political party.”
According to a VOA report, Stephen Kampyongo, a former Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security under the government of President Edgar Lungu, who is one of the expelled parliamentarians and chief whip says that their exclusion appears to be a calculated attempt to weaken their party by the government.
In light of this development, the commission cautioned that considering the current fiscal challenges facing the country, the government is ill-advised to “deliberately” precipitate an unprecedented nine to ten by-elections.
“We urge the executive and legislature to be reasonable and level-headed on this matter. This culture of impunity and utter disregard for the laws of the land must be held in check,” they said.
The commission appealed, “We are calling on all the institutions mandated with the duty and responsibility of ensuring justice and fairness to the people, to operate with integrity and goodness.”
