The Zambian Police Force have scrapped their decision to employ eight Chinese nationals as police reservists after a public outcry.
The decision comes barely 24 hours after the commissioning of the police officers amid fanfare in the capital, Lusaka.
Zambians had questioned the recruitment of foreign-born reservists, which they found puzzling given that a decision had been taken earlier this year to ban police officers from marrying foreigners for “security reasons”.
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In a statement, police spokeswoman Esther Mwata-Katongo said that police chief Kakoma Kanganja rescinded the appointment of the Chinese nationals because of the public outcry.
She added that “members of the public should be aware that the appointments were not done outside the Law but within the provisions of the Zambia Police Reserve Act”.
Being a begger is a crime. The Chinese were already driving ZAF registered vehicles, now they are wearing police uniforms all in the name of "aid" #Zambia #whereisourdignity ?????
— Chabwera Phiri (@ChabzP) December 18, 2017
received this statement being attributed to Zambia Police.
Yesterday Inspector Gen of Police commissioned 8 Chinese police reservists in Lusaka.
Appointments have now been withdrawn due to public outcry pic.twitter.com/Ptrk9DKcpf— Samira Sawlani (@samirasawlani) December 19, 2017
