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Is this the masterstroke we’ve been waiting for?
2006-01-09 08:34:08
By Editor
Members of the new Cabinet have their work cut out for them as they spend their first full day in office today after they were sworn in last Friday.
Among the ministries whose performance will be closely monitored in the next five years is the newly created docket of Public Safety and Security, headed by Harith Bakari Mwapachu, who was the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in the previous government.
There is no disputing fact that crime in Tanzania has spiralled over the last few years, and this is probably what prompted President Jakaya Kikwete to form a ministry charged solely with maintaining internal security.
This is a decision that has, understandably, drawn mixed reactions, with some observers arguing that the splitting into two of the Home Affairs ministry was the wrong move that would only succeed in increasing government expenditure.
The Home Affairs ministry was perfectly suited for the task of maintaining public safety and security, opponents of the decision further argue.
We beg to differ.
In fact, we commend President Kikwete for hiving the Public Safety and Security docket off into a separate ministry. It is a decision that will surely benefit Tanzanians in the long run.
No cost should be spared in ridding this country of violent crime, and if the expenditure of a few more billion shillings is what it takes to make Tanzanians safe in their own country, then so be it.
Those arguing against the formation of a separate ministry to deal solely with crime have probably never been the victims of violent crime.
Anybody who knows how it feels to lose their hard-earned possessions to armed gangsters or to suffer bodily harm at the hands of ruthless thugs will surely support any decision aimed at improving internal security and guaranteeing the safety of law-abiding citizens.
Violent criminals now reign supreme from Dar es Salaam to Arusha, Mbeya to Tanga and Mwanza to Dodoma, and hardly a day passes without incidents of serious crime being reported in various parts of the country.
Since the Police Force is now under the new ministry, we hope that comprehensive measures will be taken to improve the welfare of police officers and properly equip them with a view to enabling them to carry out their duties efficiently and effectively.
It is common knowledge that police officers are poorly paid and lack decent housing and working tools, thus badly affecting the Police Force’s ability to carry out its duties.
However, we hasten to add that any measures to enable the Police Force to deal effectively with crime must be accompanied by moves to tackle unemployment, especially among youths.
Perpetrators of violent crime are mostly youths who do so out of sheer desperation. The lack of education and jobs is a deadly combination, which can easily drive youths to violent crime, as we have painfully found out over the last two decades or so.
This is where the restructured Labour, Employment and Youth Development ministry comes into the picture in the war on crime.
It may not be as simplistic as it sounds, but the fact is that reducing unemployment among Tanzanian youths will have the direct effect of curbing crime in the country.
The formation of the Public Safety and Security ministry and the establishment of a restructured Labour, Employment and Youth Development docket is thus a double act that we believe will go a long way in taming violent crime in the country.
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