Socialist Party president Dr. Fred M’membe has accused President Hakainde Hichilema of presiding over what he termed tyranny, incompetence and calculated abuse of the criminal justice system.
In a statement issued in Lusaka on Tuesday, M’membe said the Zambia Police Service and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had resorted to arresting citizens when the State was not ready to prosecute them.
He further alleged that the practice was undermining public confidence in the judiciary, contributing to case backlogs and subjecting magistrates and judges to executive-driven theatre.
M’membe called for an end to what he described as amateurish and malicious law enforcement, arguing the State has no legal or moral right to deprive citizens of freedom if it cannot prove the offences alleged.
“The buck stops with you. The Inspector General of Police and the DPP act in your name, under your executive authority, and under your watch. You can not distance yourself from the tyranny being unleashed by your appointees,” he said.
He said those who break the law must face the law, but insisted the process must be professional and credible.
“Let me be absolutely clear: we are not saying that those who commit crimes should not face the law. If an individual breaks the law, let them be charged, arrested, and tried. But that process must be accompanied by the professional competence, the institutional capability, and the integrity to prosecute them fairly,” M’membe said.
“What we are witnessing today under this regime is a grotesque and unbridled exhibition of incompetence that heavily borders on pure malice and a calculated abuse of the criminal justice system. Do not try to swallow what you can not chew,” he stated.
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M’membe accused Inspector General of Police of turning the Service into an instrument of political intimidation.
“You have reduced the Zambia Police Service into an unruly instrument of political intimidation. Under your command, professional policing has been replaced by a lazy, incompetent doctrine: arresting to investigate, instead of investigating to arrest,” he said.
He also accused the DPP of weaponising the law through malicious overcharging, alleging that charges such as treason and sedition were being manufactured to deny suspects bail.
“Your office has weaponised the law through malicious overcharging. By clearing half-baked, politically manufactured charges like treason and sedition out of thin air, you are actively bypassing the constitutional right to bail. This is not prosecution; it is persecution,” M’membe said.
He claimed that when the State fails to prove cases, it enters a nolle prosequi to discontinue proceedings in order to avoid judicial scrutiny of its ineptitude.
M’membe said President Hichilema could not distance himself from the conduct of the police and the DPP.
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The post ‘The buck stops with you,’ Opposition voice, M’membe, accuses President Hichilema of tyranny first appeared on Zambia Monitor.