Lemmy Kajoba directs Zambia Police to stop detaining suspects anyhow

INSPECTOR General of Police Lemmy Kajoba has directed that Zambia police not to detain suspects anyhow.

Speaking when he received 100,000 face masks and 100 bottles of hand sanitisers worth K700,000 from Higer Bus Company Limited Mr Kajoba said that the directives to Zambia Police Officers are that if police find a case against someone, they need to process the cases within 24 hours and release the suspects on bond or take them before courts of law.

“We don’t need to detain people anyhow,” said Kajoba.

Mr. Kajoba further directed that all suspects be swabbed for COVID-19 before they are detained and added that officers at the Zambia Police headquarters would be tested for COVID-19.

“I want to indicate to you that this has come at the right moment when we are experiencing a number of cases in the Zambia Police Service. For example, we were in Kamfinsa where we had a number of officers graduating sometime last week and in Tazara, we had about 60 officers that were posted there and when the officers reached there they were showing some sign of illness. So I directed that we can have compulsory testing of all officers both the serving ones and those who have come
to join the mainstream,” he said. “Apparently, we realised that out of 60, 20 of them were positive.” Kajoba said at the police headquarters there were signs that a number of officers have contracted the Coronavirus.

“At some point in the course of next week, today is Christmas Eve, come Monday everyone at the Police Headquarters, it will be compulsory. They will be tested until we know who has contracted and who is safe. We will put in measures to make sure that we protect our officers,” he said.

Kajoba added that in a number of cells throughout the country, police are recording cases of Coronavirus from inmates.

“It is every dangerous. So owing to the facilities available to us, we are directing that all suspects that will be put in those detentions, first and foremost, they should be swabbed. I know it will be very difficult because probably we might not have the equipment but where we have the equipment, let us test the detainees that we want to put in out police cells,” he directed.

Higer Bus Company general manager Wu Ming said he took cognisant of the fact that police duty does not choose between congested and non-congested places which are hybrid grounds for the breeding of the COVID-19 virus.

He said it is for this reason that his company through its management and staff opted to make a donation with a view to helping the service execute its mandate without fear of contracting the virus.

“Higer Bus Company Limited has more than 100 employees of which only about 10 are of Chinese origin with the rest are Zambians…a tradition we have come to be proud of over the years. It is also worth noting Mr Inspector General and your command that Higer is one of the few companies that maintained its entire workforce since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the country in March 2020,” said Wu.