Editors PickNational News

Party cohorts defy Road Traffic on ‘Ana Adadi’ number plates

Despite a warning from Directorate of Road Traffic and Safety Services (DRTSS) that failure to display a vehicle’s number plate constitutes an offence, some political party cohorts refuse to respect the law.

Our random checks show that followers of the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are the biggest culprits.

The DPP followers, mostly the party’s youths popularly known as Cadets, move up and about cities with their cars affixed with plates bearing ‘Ana Adadi’, ‘Team APM’ or ‘APM 2019 Boma’, in reference to and in support of President Peter Mutharika.

Equally acting against DRTSS rules, instead of displaying their number plates, some supporters of other political parties cover their number plates with party cloth.

The plates, for example those meant to drum up support for President Mutharika, obscure the registered number plates and in some cases Malawi Police Service (MPS) traffic officers may not know if those vehicles are registered.

But MPS has failed to condemn the act fully, arguing the ‘illegal’ political party number plates are only accepted when political parties are holding rallies and are considered as part of morale booster.

National Police spokesperson James Kadadzera said they book for offence those that obscure their number plates with party paraphernalia when there is no political rally taking place.

“But it is fine with us when they are on a convoy, when there is a rally; it is part of boosting their morale. Even opposition political parties, they do it,” Kadadzera said.

His statement run counter to observation, as Nation on Sunday encountered vehicles of party supporters at Chichiri Shopping Mall within the week when there was no political rally in town.

But DRTSS spokesperson Angelina Makwecha said in a response to a questionnaire, when told about the police’s position, that the fact remains that using a number plate which is not in the Malawi Traffic Information System (Maltis) or obscuring a number plate, under any circumstance, is illegal.

Makwecha insisted that the directorate wants to inform all vehicle owners that obscuring number plates is prohibited.

“All this was done to ensure safety and security to the general public. For instance, a vehicle whose number is obscured or doesn’t bear the regulated number will be difficult to trace should it be involved in criminal activities or hit-and-run,” she said.”

On the other hand, Malawi Law Society (MLS) outgoing president Alfred Majamanda said in an interview on Thursday that police are better placed to know if political parties use such number plates for those special events only.

He, however, said police are expected to act on law breakers regardless of one’s status—rich or poor.

Despite that party number plates such as ‘Ana Adadi’ are seen every day, even when there are no rallies, Kadadzera insisted that the tendency is diminishing because police act when they come across such vehicles.

He conceded that there is a danger that vehicles with no real registration number plates may be used for criminal activities.

Malawi Human Rights Defenders Network chairperson Timothy Mtambo said in an interview on Saturday that his network, and many other human rights organisations, have spoken against DPP’s impunity.

He blamed the police for failing to act independently and professionally on several other cases.

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