BT police getting US$5, 797 for 11 units
Blantyre Police Station says it is getting a meagre K2 million (US$5797) allocation per month for its operations and the running of four other substations and seven police units under it.
From the proposed estimate of between K8 million (US$23188) and K10 million (US$28985) per month, the station was only provided K2 million per month in the 2012/13 national budget, a reduction of 80 percent from the estimated budget.
On the internal arrangements, each substation and unit is allocated 30 litres of fuel per month, which translates to one litre per day to run Toyota Land Cruiser pickups for general duties.
The situation has forced officers at Blantyre Police, Ndirande, Chilomoni and Soche substations to respond to crime scenes on foot or fail to respond altogether.
In Blantyre, it is common to see police prosecutors walking, sometimes in the rain, to and from courts with suspects, in some cases with dangerous criminals, putting the lives of the officers in danger.
These issues were laid bare at a station executive committee meeting held at Blantyre Lodge in Blantyre yesterday where police officers met civilians involved in community policing to discuss security matters.
Station officer at Blantyre Police, Dennis Katuya, admitted in an interview that the low funding could compromise their operations, but said the response has always been that the few resources have to be shared among all stations and do with what they get.
Katuya said the budget estimate of K8 million to K10 million per month was made and submitted to the Southern Region Police Headquarters and then to National Police Headquarters in Lilongwe, but what they got at the end of the day was K2 million per month.
Misheck Munthali, a civilian who chairs the road safety subcommittee under Blantyre Police, set the ball rolling during the meeting when he lashed out at two members of Parliament (MPs) present at the meeting, accusing all MPs of serving their personal interests when in Parliament.
Said Munthali: “How do you expect us to run these substations and police units with a meagre K2 million? From that, each police substation like Ndirande is allocated 30 litres of fuel per month, meaning it is expected to use a litre per day, how is that possible?
“When it comes to increasing your fuel allowances, you do it in 30 minutes.
How do you expect us to curb crime? You talk of corruption in police, but have you posed a moment to ask yourself the root cause? There is no motivation, salaries are too low.”
Munthali said truth must be told, and as he continued with his rant, Blantyre City West legislator Tarsizio Gowelo stood up on what he called “point of order”, arguing Munthali was going beyond limits.
Geoffrey Mophiwa, chairperson of the resource mobilisation for community policing in Blantyre, agreed with Munthali that it was pathetic that police officers live in tiny and shabby houses, personally extended with plywood to create more room.
Blantyre Kabula MP Felix Njawala, commenting on the matter during the meeting, said the concerns were genuine and he was going to discuss with his colleagues from Blantyre to find ways how it can be presented to government.
