Zambian Police Aid Murder Suspect

Task Force on Corruption in Hot Water

A Zambian police officer who sits on the government's Task Force on Corruption has been arrested for alleged harboring a murder suspect. Acting police spokesperson Moses Suwali confirmed the arrest of police officer in a statement released in Lusaka. The officer's name has since been withheld.

Suwali said the officer has been charged with the offence of compounding felonies, which is contrary to section 113 chapter 87 of the laws of Zambia.

Suwali also disclosed that another police officer who collaborated with the arrested officer is on the run and that police have stepped up the search.

Zambian Police Officers Aid Murder Suspect

The 2 police officers are suspected to have aided Mathew Mohan, a murder suspect, escape from police custody on August 31, 2009.

Mohan escaped from a Ridgeway police post located in the Lusaka magistrate court premises after he appeared in court where he faced charges of obtaining money by false pretences. Two other police officers who were guarding Mohan at the time he fled were arrested and charged with criminal negligence. He was re-arrested this month near the United Nations building in Lusaka.

Suspect Back in Police Custody

Police were able to trail Mohan through telephone calls he made as he arranged to flee Zambia. Mohan, with 2 other suspects of Asian origin, were last month arrested in connection with the death of Sajid Itowala.

Itowala, a well-known businessman in Zambia, was brutally murdered in July of 2009. Itowala's body was found in his Benz Car about 100 meters from a police post in Lusaka West. Itowala had sustained numerous broken bones and 3 gunshot wounds.

Zambian Police Force Corruption

The arrest of the police officer has further dented the image of the Task Force on Corruption in the eyes of the public.

"Comparing the overall response in 2007 and 2009, it is noteworthy that there has not been any considerable change in the corruption perception," Transparency International Zambia president Reuben Lifuka said at a press briefing held in June this year.

Lifuka said findings indicate that 54 percent of the respondents viewed public officials and the civil servants to be extremely corrupt, followed by the judiciary at 39 percent, political parties at 30 percent and the business/private sector at 15 percent.

And after the acquittal of former president Frederick Chiluba many Zambians are calling for the disbanding of the Task Force on Corruption.