The Zambia Police Service has disclosed that it cannot make public its findings following its investigations of the authenticity of a pornographic video clip that went viral which is alleged to involve current Drug Enforcement Commission – DEC Director General Mary Chirwa stating that the matter is before court.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Hamoonga said the matter was in court and the police can not release its report to the public. He however did not confirm if investigations have been concluded and a final report has been presented to the appointing authority.
Earlier in July 2022, a videos containing obscene materials showing a woman alleged to be Director General of the Drug Enforcement Commission Mary Chirwa emerged and went viral with calls for police to fully investigate the matter and avail the appointing authority a report to either convict or vindicate the DEC Chief.
The video was widely circulated on social media and via various WhatsApp blogs with many bloggers expressing disgust and calling for timely investigations and actions from the appointing authorities. Others called for her immediate resignation pending investigations, while others called for the sacking of the DEC boss due to the sensitivity and moral authority required in the public execution of the role.
Concerns are now emerging on blatant failures to live up to the maxim of the rule of law. Office holders for key investigative wings are required to be held by people of high moral standing. They should not just be of high moral standing, they should also be seen to be of high moral standing.
But it’s now about 3 months down the line after the Zambia Police service through its spokesperson Rae Hamoonga stated that Police were investigating the matter and the results have not yet been made public. These are some of the actions that risk resulting in loss of confidence in institutions of governance such as DEC by the general public.
Meanwhile Economic Front (EF) President Wynter Kabimba who took the matter to court said the matter is still active in court. Kabimba told ZBT that the matter is scheduled to take off on the 9th of Novermber 2022, stating that the complaint was launched after the Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority ZICTA and the Police failed to respond.
He said the Police IG [and acting ZICTA DG needed to tell the public the truth about how far they had gone with investigations and whether they had ascertained that it was her (DEC DG Mary Chirwa) in the obscene video.
Kabimba is on record to have stated that since July 27, Zambians had heard nothing about the conclusion of these investigations but that on September 11 three women of Mindolo committed a similar offence but it was shocking that the following day they were picked despite the video being of poor quality.
