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Compensating Police Brutality Victims Overwhelms Govt

The Post (Lusaka)
NEWS
May 12, 2004
Posted to the web May 12, 2004

By Shimelis Kulunga in Kitwe
Lusaka
GOVERNMENT is concerned with the high rate of compensations to those brutality
abused by police through torture and human rights abuse.
Copperbelt deputy minister Webby Chipili also disclosed that police image has
in the recent past been dented through misconduct of some officer in the course
of discharging their duties.
Opening a three-day workshop on human rights and policing seminar for senior
Zambia Police commanders at Edinburgh Hotel in Kitwe yesterday, Chipili said
police officers should take advantaged of acquiring new knowledge required to
correct negative public perceptions.
Chipili implored the Police Service to address the need for quality justice.
He pointed out that access to speedy justice was not just an international
human rights norm or standard but a constitutional matter.
"Your investigative role in criminal justice system stands a foundation that
cannot be under-estimated, " Chipili said.
He urged the Zambia Police and Zambia Prisons Services to consult and work
closely with key institutions in the general criminal system for interventions
to have an impact.
The minister told participants to the workshop that the Police Public
Complaints Authority (PPCA) was not established to find faults in officers but
for checks and balances.
Chipili urged the PPCA to take advantage of the forum and explain its mandate
and role in securing professionalism within the Zambia Police Service.
He said government was fully aware of trying conditions under which the police
were operating and efforts were being made to redress the situation.
However, Chipili cautioned police officers against taking advantage of its
state of affairs to disregard human rights norms enshrined in the international
instruments.
Chipili noted that an increased level of human rights awareness among citizens
called for a corresponding knowledge on duty bearers in the police service.
Giving a vote of thanks, Daniel Musonda from the Zambia Police Professional
Legal Standards Units said human rights were a crucial part in ensuring
execution of the rule of law.
Musonda noted that it was imperative for police to uphold human rights because
this would enable them enhance their duties professionally.
Musonda expressed sadness that the police image in the public eye was still
held in bad taste hence the need to reorganize its house.

   

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