Maravi

Police were unable to deal with last year's poll violence - Daka

Police were unable to deal with last year's poll violence - Daka
By Edwin Mbulo in Livingstone
Mon 13 Feb. 2012, 12:59 CAT

DEPUTY Commissioner of Police Auxensio Daka says the police service did not have capacity to deal with electoral violence last year. And Inspector General of Police Dr Martin Malama has appealed to all stakeholders involved in last year's general elections to provide the police with critical analysis of how the law enforcement wing handled the elections.

In his presentation on objectives of the Policing Election Project (PEP) at Courtyard Hotel on Friday, Daka who is police deputy commissioner in-charge of administration said there were some cases where the police ultimately performed poorly in electioneering.

"The Policing Elections Project came in the wake of growing concerns of violence. The issue is that we did not have the capacity to deal with violence; it is not just moving in with power and guns, there are other ways to deal with violence," Daka said.

He said 5,500 police officers were trained in the election project although the police command would have loved to train all police officers.

Daka, who is also the PEP national coordinator, said the police was not happy when citizens start running away from the law enforcement agency.

"We are not happy when people say ba police niba yopa, ba za ku ika muma cell (I fear the police, they will put you in cell) if you go there. Nobody shall arrest you if you criticise the police. We will rely on your resolutions so that we ensure that we rely on them in future elections," he said.

Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, PEP, POLITICAL VIOLENCE

posted by MrK @ 2:53 PM