Maravi

Bribing cops

Bribing cops
By Editor
Monday May 26, 2008 [04:00]

THERE is corruption in the police and in the nation in general because we, the people of this country, tolerate it. We have corrupt police officers because we have tolerated their corruption. It is we the citizens who have encouraged and made our police officers corrupt. And as Anti-Corruption Commissioner Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika has consistently observed, we should condemn ourselves as a society, as a nation, as a people for condoning corruption in the country.

The bribes which our police officers take don’t drop from the sky like rain; they don’t grow on trees, we pay them to them. It is we the citizens who give these bribes to our police officers and then turn around and accuse them of being corrupt. This is not fair, this is not just. We cannot call others to virtues which we ourselves do not make an effort to practice.
Those who pay bribes facilitate and perpetuate an already dysfunctional system.

We know that bribes make even wise men blind to the truth, to justice and fairness, and prevent them from being honest in their criticism and dealings.

If you try to be honest, you can be, and it will improve your character as handsome clothing improves your appearance. The habit of honesty comes to those who try to be honest. Bribes wait for those looking for a chance to bribe or to be bribed, just as a lion waits for its pray.

Nothing that comes from bribery or injustice will last, but the effects of honesty will remain forever. We should be ashamed of being dishonest; of paying or receiving bribes.

There is need for us to realise that the importance of incorruptibility is part of the essence of self-respect. We should refuse to use our positions to get ourselves anything that isn’t our due.

There has to be a belief in society. Working together. Solidarity. Cooperation. Partnership. These should be our four words.
We need to have a straight view of society. We need to understand that the individual does best in a strong and decent community of people with principles and standards and common aims and values.
Corruption has drastic evil effects and destroys social structures. We all have a duty as citizens of this country to promote transparency, accountability and honesty in society.

We invite all Zambians to avoid corruption at all costs and condemn it whenever and wherever they see it.

We urge all our people to stop paying bribes not only to police officers but to all public officers and indeed to anyone else. There is nothing positive in this practice. We may think we are avoiding being inconvenienced by paying a bribe. But we are ignoring the fact that the damage we are doing to our country by paying a bribe is far much worse than the inconvenience we are avoiding.

No one can deny the fact that corruption is rampant among our police officers. And no one can also deny the fact that the bribes we pay them are encouraging than to be corrupt. We are actually paying our police officers to be corrupt every time we pay a bribe. It is we, the citizens of this country, who are actually rewarding police officers for being corrupt. After that, we turn round and accuse them of being corrupt. How clean are we the payers of bribes, sponsors of this crime, of corruption? We should therefore condemn ourselves as a society for condoning corruption, for offering bribes. It is we who have encouraged police officers to take bribes at roadblocks. This has to stop because it is wrong.

Corruption cannot exist in our country if we are intolerant of it. No police officer will expect a bribe if he knows that no citizen is willing to pay it. Corruption cannot exist among our police officers if we all refuse to corrupt them.

And we hope Inspector General Ephraim Mateyo will carry out his promise to arrest and prosecute citizens who go out to bribe his officers. Receiving a bribe is wrong. And offering a bribe should be equally wrong.

It may be necessary to re-examine the way payments are made for traffic offences to ensure that police officers and offenders are not tempted to do deals. We have no magic solution to this problem but we believe that where there is a will, there will always be a way. But there is no alternative to educating our people about the evil consequences of paying bribes, of corruption. There may be need to incorporate this aspect in our driving schools and make them part of the driving tests. Everything possible should be done to defeat this evil.

Labels: CORRUPTION, POLICE

posted by MrK @ 3:38 AM