Zambian police officers beat Journalist and erase material from camera

21 April 2008

On April 17, 2008, a senior reporter, Kaiko Namusa from the state owned Newspaper, Times of Zambia, was assaulted and detained for over an hour at Chipata Central Police for taking pictures of police officers who were manhandling a cyclist for allegedly breaking traffic rules.

Namusa, who was in Eastern Province, Zambia on an assignment with Programme Against Malnutrition, (PAM) said he was caught up in the fracas after Police noticed him taking photos of them beating up a Cyclist.

He said the Police Officers grabbed his camera after beating him and demanded that the photos be deleted, saying that if published, they would tarnish their Image.

Namusa was then ordered to accompany the Police officers to the station alongside the cyclist. Upon reaching the police station, he was told to sit on the floor with other suspects amidst officers saying it was wrong for him to take photos in their town.

Namusa said when he demanded for his camera, the officers got annoyed and sought permission from the superiors to have him locked up. One of their supervisors agreed that he be locked up for conduct likely to cause a breach of peace, and only be released once his supervisors from Lusaka traveled to Chipata.

Police spokesperson Bonnie Kapeso condemned the beating of the reporter saying police officers should respect the work the media carry out. Kapeso wondered how a journalist with just a pen and a notebook could pose a danger to the peace of the police officers.

Meanwhile, MISA Zambia has condemned the act and has called on the Police Inspector General to address the issue because the number of officers and other law enforcers beating and harassing journalists as they carried out their duties was on the rise.

This is not the first time this is happening, if you recall, early this year, we had a similar incident when a wife who was bartered by her husband (a police officer) gave the story to The Post newspaper. The Police officer, who is an inspector, went to The Post newspaper offices and threatened to sort out the reporters who had written the story. He also said he would sort out the reporter from Muvi Television station who had also published the story.

It seems, therefore that no disciplinary measures are being taken by the police serve to deter this problem whose frequency is on the rise,Kabwe said.

We need to see something happening in terms of punishment so that it may be prevented from happening in future,he lamented.

Namusa was only released when one of the officers managed to delete the pictures from the camera.

Ends

MISA