MONDAY, 1.30PM
MONDAY’S Zambia Post claims that Lusaka police chiefs sent radio messages ordering snipers to fire on opposition leader Kenneth Kaunda last month.
Kaunda and fellow opposition leader Rodger Chongwe were shot and injured when police broke up an opposition rally in Kabwe on August 23.
The Post says it interviewed unnamed policemen who report that an instruction was issued over police radio to policemen at the rally, ordering them to fire at Kaunda as he stood under a tree close to his party offices.
The instructions were broadcast on an open channel, and were widely heard by other police officers. First, Kaunda’s movements all the way from Lusaka to Kabwe were monitored. A roadblock was instructed to report to Lusaka the moment Kaunda’s Toyota Land Cruiser drove past.
When Kaunda arrived, a senior officer, whom the Post does not name, ordered his men to fire at the “subject”. When told that Kaunda’s security men had pushed him back into the motor vehicle, the officer ordered police to fire at the vehicle.
The Post also gives the names of three senior police officers from Lusaka who were all in Kabwe on the day of the shooting.