Maravi

Rupiah orders cops to respect citizens’ rights

Rupiah orders cops to respect citizens’ rights
By Moses Kuwema
Fri 30 July 2010, 10:00 CAT

Malawian President Bingu Wa Mutharika on arrival at the Lusaka International Airport where he was welcomed by his Zambian Counterpart Rupiah Banda. Bingu is in the country to officially open the 84th Zambia Agricultural and Commercial Show. Photo taken by Thomas Nsama on July 29, 2010.

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda has directed police officers to respect the rights of citizens when discharging their duties.

And Inspector General of Police Francis Kabonde has said Zambia’s police officer to people ratio stood at one officer servicing 850 people instead of the internationally accepted one officer to 250 people.

During the pass out parade for 589 constables at Lilayi Police College yesterday, President Banda said the Constitution of Zambia contained a Bill of Rights, which should be protected by the police and other members of the defence forces in the country.

“It does not matter whether the people you are handling are foreigners or Zambians, they all enjoy the same rights. As Commander-in-Chief, I expect you to be hardworking, professional, loyal to your government and disciplined as you discharge your duties,” President Banda said.

He said the government had resolved to do away with the direct supply of mealie-meal to police officers because the method had proved to be unreliable.
He said they had instead started giving all officers mealie-meal allowances.

President Banda also directed the Inspector General of Police and his command to take advantage of programmes in the Sixth National Development Plan (SNDP) which were aimed at enhancing the welfare of police officers.

“Regarding equipment, I am proud to announce that some operational equipment which my government has bought is on the way into the country. This equipment, which includes water cannons and bulletproof vests, is meant to help our police service minimise the use of firearms, especially when dealing with public order such as riot control,” he said.

President Banda said the government was also working on modalities to improve the career prospects in the police service, adding that in future, high-performing young police recruits would undergo specialised training abroad.
And Kabonde said the graduation of 1,500 recruits this year would increase the manpower to 14,000 police officers countrywide.

However, Kabonde said the number was inadequate because the population of Zambia stood at over 12 million.

“It means that the ratio is one police officer to about 850 people. The internationally accepted standard ratio is one police officer to 250 people. In this regard, we earnestly appeal to your government to allow us recruit annually so that we can reach the strength of at least 27,000 by 2015,” he said.

Kabonde said unlike past recruitments, this year’s was unique because it was national in its composition.
He said recruitment was done from all the districts, and the officers represented the 73 tribes of Zambia.

“We also took into consideration the issue of gender, out of the 589 recruits on parade, 211 are women representing 36 per cent which is above requirement by our national gender policy,” he said.

Kabonde said the police command would continue to be gender-sensitive in future recruitments and promotion of women officers to decision-making positions.
He said currently, there were 2,304 female officers against 12,678 men.

Kabonde also said the police command planned to extend the period of training for police officers to one year so as to adequately prepare the officers to respond to the challenges of fighting modern crimes such as terrorism, cyber crime and piracy.

Meanwhile, Lilayi Police College divisional commander, Richard Mweene advised the recruits to always remember that they had a great role to play in national development because no country could progress if law and order were not well maintained.

Mweene urged the recruits to always bear in mind that they were the constant and usual link between the police and members of the public.

Labels: BINGU WA MUTHARIKA, FRANCIS KABONDE, HUMAN RIGHTS, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 3:40 PM