100 years on, Police search for lost love

As the Malawi Police Service celebrated 100 years of its existence yesterday, President Lazarus Chakwera said the institution needs reforms to reclaim public confidence.

“We must work together to restore public confidence in the police service. We must work together to make corruption and abuse of office something that has no place anywhere within this great institution,” said the President during the centenary celebrations at Police Headquarters in Lilongwe.

But restoring the public’s trust in the Malawi Police will be an uphill climb.

According to Round Seven of the Afrobarometer Survey published in 2017, only 53 percent of Malawians trust the police.

That is far much lower than the 73 percent given to the police’s cousin—the Malawi Defence Force—religious leaders at 81 percent and 67 percent for traditional leaders.

In a similar study released in 2015, the police enjoyed a 70 percent trust rating, a high love offering from the public that the President hopes the police can win back.

Chakwera called for strengthening of the Police, including instilling of discipline in officers, giving them modern equipment and tools for effective policing while training them better and bringing efficiency to the institution.

“We need to retrain the entire police service to modern ways of enforcing the law without violating the rights of citizens. We need to have specialization units within the Malawi Police to ensure that there is special focus given to specific kinds of crimes that have proven too difficult to solve in recent times.

“We need to improve the collaboration and partnership between the Malawi Police Service and other security agencies, so that we cut out the waste in resources that is caused by duplication and redundancy,” said the President.

Chakwera thus ordered Homeland Security Minister Richard Chimwendo Banda to seek views from the police’s rank and file on what needs to change for the agency to deliver better services to the people and regain their trust.

Human rights lawyer Justin Dzonzi, in an interview yesterday, said he supported the President’s vision for the police, but warned it will require an overhaul of the legal and regulatory framework to bring real change.

Said Dzonzi:”I support the process, but we are still using a framework that is archaic and informed by the British. We still have a police that watches hooligans beat up people in front of them and do nothing because the hooligans belong to ruling party wings. We still have a police that punishes an officer for doing the right thing by sending him or her to a remote area.”

Dzonzi explained that the torrid relationship between the police and the public may only improve if the law enforcers stop being partisan and desists from protecting ruling elites and instead serve the citizenry.

Speaking earlier, Inspector General (IG) of police George Kainja decried the dwindling standards of some police branches such as aviation at Mtakataka in Dedza, which he said used to have a fleet of helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, but are now in ruins.

According to the IG the last helicopter flew at the airbase 17 years ago, resulting in loss of pilots, aviation engineers and technicians.

“Once upon a time we had a thriving marine police unit, which had speed boats as well as patrol boats. The Malawi Police Service had a commanding presence on Lake Malawi and other inland water bodies. We need boats, which can confront criminals, including terrorists,” he said.

Kainja added that for MPS to deliver on its mandate professionally and with integrity, there is need to increase the number of officers from the current 14 000, which represents 1: 1 300 (one officer serving 1 300 people) to 36 000 that will give a 1: 500 serving ratio.

On his part, Chimwendo Banda disclosed that recruitment of at least 2 000 new officers should be finalised next week.

MPS was established on October 5 1921 as Nyasaland Police Service.