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Demonising the entire Police Force won’t do
2006-03-06 10:47:56
By Editor
That the Police Force has been under unprecedented scrutiny over the past three months or so is hardly surprising given the fact that an equally unprecedented wave of crime engulfed the country in the same period.
A lot has been said with a not insignificant number of Tanzanians accusing the Police Force of laxity and others claiming that crooked elements in the force are abetting and actively participating in violent and organised crime.
Everybody is entitled to their opinion, especially at this time when law-abiding citizens live in constant fear of being assailed by marauding gangsters who now seem to be operating with worrying impunity.
We, however, feel that the force is to a large extent being subjected to unfair criticism and outright hostility.
Granted, the force has its fair share of corrupt and criminal elements which must be weeded out at any cost, but to suggest that the whole outfit is rotten to the core and cannot be relied on in any way is both ridiculous and counterproductive.
We believe that the vast majority of members of the Police Force are honest people who are giving their all in serving the nation despite facing numerous risks and challenges.
It is an open secret that junior police officers, who happen to take the greatest risks in the war on violent crime, are paid a pittance and most live in houses that are only marginally better than poultry sheds.
While we cannot claim to know official figures, we know that many junior officers desert the force each year after concluding that there is no future in the job, leaving behind those who are ready to serve the nation diligently in the face of adversity.
It is these committed members of the Police Force we should have in mind whenever criticising the force for its inadequacies and excesses.
Portraying the entire force as a brigade of greedy thugs will do nothing to improve the performance of our law enforcers as far as fighting crime and protecting people and their property are concerned.
The raging animosity between members of the public and the Police Force brings to the fore a very pertinent question: whose interest is the standoff in?
Our conclusion is that the only people benefiting from this needless enmity are gun-totting criminals who brazenly go about their business safe in the knowledge that the public and the police are too busy fighting one another to pay any attention.
Said Mwema has taken over as the new Inspector General of Police, succeeding Omari Mahita, and we hope that the change of guard at the top will also open a new chapter as far as relations between the force and the public are concerned.
Moro accident should not have taken place
THE bus accident that left 14 people dead and about 30 others injured, some seriously, in Morogoro recently should not have happened.
It was an accident that was entirely avoidable, but happened because someone somewhere did not care whether or not those on board reached their destinations safely.
It has been established that the Zuberi Company Limited bus left the road and overturned after one of its front tyres burst as it was travelling to Dar es Salaam from Mwanza.
The tyre burst for the simple reason that it was completely worn out.
In fact, all six tyres fitted on the bus were worn out and it was just a matter of time before one burst with disastrous consequences.
Some passengers who survived the accident said the bus stopped several times after leaving Mwanza to enable the crew mend burst tyres before a blow-out near Morogoro Municipality abruptly ended the journey and, unfortunately, the lives of so many people.
We join Morogoro Regional Commissioner Said Kalembo in wondering why the bus was allowed to leave Mwanza in the first place when it was clear that its worn-out tyres could not survive the rigours of the 1,200-kilometre journey to Dar es Salaam.
It is inconceivable that the bus travelled the 1,000 kilometres to Morogoro without a single traffic police officer noticing the anomaly and taking appropriate action.
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