Tuesday, March 19, 2024

IG bans police officers from chasing erring motorists

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Inspector General of Police, Ephraim Mateyo, has with immediate effect directed police officers to desist from chasing motorists who commit traffic offenses.

Mr Mateyo has however instructed the police officers to take note of the registration and fleet numbers of mini bus or any other vechicle and circulate the details to other officers.

He said this in a press statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka today by Police
spokespserson, Bonny Kapeso.

Mr Mateyo’s directive comes in the wake of yesterday’s incident in which a traffic
officer who was allegedly chasing a mini-bus driver for a traffic offense, resulted
into an accident which almost sparked off a riot in town.

He noted that the law requires that 14 days be given to motorists who disobey
traffic rules to report themselves to any nearest police station, failure to which
they would be arrested.

Mr Mateyo noted that officers should be proffessional,considerate and polite when
dealing with members of the public while upholding the law firmly and fairly.

He has since regretted the death of an innocent person during yesterday’s near riot,
adding that the victim might have not even been involved in the confusion.

Mr Mateyo has assured the nation that measures will be put in place to avoid a
recurrence of yesterday’s incident, adding that only credible officers will be retained to perform traffic duties.

47 COMMENTS

  1. I wonder possible its gona be to arrest a bolting traffic offender after the 14 days iven for self report have elapsed.

  2. I wonder how possible its gona be to arrest a bolting traffic offender after the 14 days given for self report have elapsed

  3. That is unfortunate part of pa Zed! Sorry after death. Are you the only officer who knows the requirements of the law? Reporting within 14 days to any police station! That can not work with the officers of today. Zambian people are very peaceful, and now it is the officers who act very unprofessional on so many occasions, Ng’ombe, Matero, Misisi, Chililabombwe, Kabwe to mention but a few, this makes us to doubt the training they under go. Many of your officers use Nyanja so just translate the laws into nyanja. I am very sure they have missed your point Mr. I.G. Innocent lives are lost nearly every day because of corruption in your service. Where are they going to get chekelako if offenders start reporting to stations? You even know it yourself! You should be taking action on your officers. We are not building our mother Zambia.

  4. Mr. I.G. sir effect change in your services we do not want professionalism we need it advocate for that to leave a better name and improve Zambia Mateyo wesu!

  5. The issue here is implementing a countrywide databse system for both National registration and the police. Currently if a traffic offender runs away the police have no system to truck him down. If we had a system in place all a traffic officer needs is a vehicle registration which should be tied to the owner whose contact records should be in the system. The whole concept of impounding cars is draconian and backward. But its justied by fact that the police dont have a system of tracking down offenders. implementing the system will tremendously reduce the temptation of motorists currupting the cops. Imagin you are on your way to a business meeting and you make a mistake of which we all do and the cop impounds your car. The current system means you loose your car. as a result you miss your meeting. The cheapest way out is to bribe the cop. But if all he could do is issue you with a ticket that you can pay at your convenience, there would be no reason to bribe the cops.

  6. In most of Europe there are no roadblocks or so-called “traffic officers”.the dbase Sage alludes to is the only solution.In the UK if you commit a traffic violation you get the ticket through the post(£60 for wrong parking,£100 for using a bus lane!!)You have 14 days to settle(if you don’t it doubles!) otherwise the Police or private contractors will impound your car even from your house and if you still don’t pay, CRUSH IT!!!Local authorities(councils)issue these tickets not the Police so it is a source of revenue for the councils!! Bwana Mateyo, you have the right idea but without a national vehicle dbase which insurers must have access to as well,your good intentions will remain just that…good intentions!with a national dbase and on board computers Police can check ownership,musonko,insurance & outstanding tickets before even stopping you.LPM borrow money and set up a modern national vehicle dbase..a better plan to uplift the standard of living in Zambia.

  7. There is that database been used for vehicle registration, originally centred in Lusaka, but now marginally decentalised to Ndola and Livigstone. Wouldn’t it suffice to expand it for operations like submited in #7?

  8. the motor vehicle registration data base already exists at traffic dept if the police wanted to use. Of course it doesnt include a reliable physical address of vehicle owners. I think its a question of convenience that the police enforce payment of traffic fees on the highway. Which is a horrible system. But its tough.

  9. #8 There is no centralised dbase in Z. We are talking about a system like the rader system which should also be mounted on police cars for immediate access to the information. The police should also have a command center which should be available to provide information to cops through “rogger rogger” 24/7. The main point motor vehicle records on the cops finger tips. There is absolutely no need to chase someone if you know where they live and you can truck them. This would require a complete paradigm shift to the way the police operate. The cost is high but the benefits for the councils, Police and the community outways the initial implementation costs. Last time i was in Lusaka, i saw those MMD caders pretending to be from the council trying to collect parking fees. Why cant we just have parking meters with the council enforcing violations. Like #7 pointed out this is a big move which needs proper planning and costing.

  10. baHapilo(8),it is a mammoth exercise that would involve even Zampost!!How would the tickets be delivered to vehicle owners in the middle of Msisi compound or in Dambwa South in Livingstone.It is a huge undertaking but such a comprehensive database can be extended to NRC/Passport office etc.Every district in the country has be “online”!!This national dbase would have many purposes and would solve so many issues.Becoz of the enormity of the task i suggested we get the World Bank or IMF to fund it.These are loans that make sense…not borrowing for payment of allowances for dubious characters on equally dubious commissions called CA or CRC or whatever they want to call it now!!We should stop feeding and enriching the famous “stakeholders” and get on with developmental programs that will benefit every citizen for decades to come!!These stakeholders are like cockroaches coming out after you switch off the lights in a kitchen!!

  11. #11 the responsibility of making sure your address is correct and valid lies with the vehicle registrant. He in California when i change my address its my responsibility to inform the DMV. If i dont and the tickets get lost in the mail a wanrant of arrest will be issued. Coming to the cost. You dont need IMF or WB to implement a project that would cost $30M or less. If trucking company can implement a rader system to communicate and monitor the fleet how can a country not afford such a system. Depertment of Motor Vehicle in California is the richest depertment in the state. The cost benefit to the councils and the police is gynomous.

  12. Thanks guys. most technology works out cheaper in the long term, but will this eliminate the corruption even if the police got me at home and my name is all over their system?

  13. SAGE, the Min of Home Affairs in Zambia is one of the poorest. $30 million doesnt sound like a lot of money for a country but its alot for the Zambian govt. I imagine that in the bigger scheme of things this project doesnt pass their benefit-cost test.

  14. #12 if you can remember when we discussed about Masebo and the venders, keep Zambia clean I said the first thing you have to is to town planing, register all the residents. This includes all mobile automatives. Once you move from one town or to the village in three months time you have to register. Failure do so a fine is netted. The problem is in Zambia we dont have house numbers. If real pipo are interested in creating jobs these are such small endavours which can be undertaken. What is the use of have a labour office or ministry of labour? Zambians are good at reigistering of dead bodies. If you went to Leopards Hills or any other graveyards you find that each person has a number as identity. Why cant we apply such systems which are already in place. In Zambia we used to have pupil teaching and it was working very well. Why cannot someone come up this idea to give school leavers a chance to earn money whilst the they are waiting for their results. Many hands make work lighter.

  15. Sage,
    Your ‘Big Brother’ idea like the one in the UK can not work in Zambia simply because we don’t have a post code system and the countless numbers of CCTVs that the people of the UK are victimised with! A national registration database can not work because we are a landlocked country surrounded by ‘other’ African countries. We are not an island like Britain. What will happen to those other cars and people coming in from the surrounding countries? The solution is to introduce more options for communal travel like trains and trams to replace these one man transport companies that are usually poor in safety standards. The more cars we get off the streets the better. This will also help to stop the business of making Zambia a dumping ground for old cars that only contribute to creating accidents in the country.

  16. cont..
    Just because western countries are subjecting their citizens to take up national ID cards for the purpose of adding them into one suspicious mega database does not mean Zambia should do the same. Most ordinary westerners are now asking for their privacy and freedom because most of them are watched almost 24/7 and their western governments already have too much information about them. Surely do we need that ‘mark of the beast’ like system in Zambia? Be very careful of what you ask for!!

  17. BaSage(2),do you know that in some districts there are no phone lines?$30million would not cut it i’m afraid.Multiply it by 5 or 6 to include infrastructural development sounds more like it!! Change of address is indeed the responsibility of the registrant but in Nchelenge who the hell do you change it with??don’t even contemplate forwarding mail either as mail redirection doesn’t even exist in Lusaka!! trucking companies use GPS tracking technology….i don’t quite think the minister of science and technology even knows what GPS stands for let alone its potential uses.to further illustrate the chaotic system of addresses in zambia if you used a satnav kuti waluba bad!!it is a mammoth undertaking!!

  18. #16 We are not talking about CCTV here for monitoring offenders we are talking a system database to store information. The foundation upon which this system would operate is the NRC national database. the The motor vehicle registration and the police ticketing system are secondary systems which should pull data from the NRC database.
    #14 i know $30 estimate is a lot of money for Zambia and i also know the same amount can be collected from motor vehicle registration, new NRC and trffic fines for the offenders. The problem with us is we always flinch at the sound of a cash register.
    #18. The Minister of internal affairs is not supposed to know how how GPS or rader works. But he is supposed to hire smart people to implement the project.KK didnt know how a pipeline works and i’m sure he still doesnt. but he had a vision and conviction to provide leadership and a lasting solution to oil transportation. The west didnt start with computers and freeways. CTN

  19. They where determined to better their lives by any means necessary. The question of being a landlocked doesnt even arise. Motorists come from mexico to USA. At the border vehicle information is input in the system. You violate the traffic laws the officer will give you a ticket. When you get to the boarder you have to pay the fine or you wont be allowed to take your vehicle.

  20. #15 easy in Z today if someone pics up an NRC of a dead person there is noway of verifying that the owner is dead. The solution is simple but there is no will power from GRZ. The question of shanies is a small problem looking at a population of 10M. Do you know that there degree holders living in shanties? We have to start somewhere, and that somewhere is to have a reliable national database. Without that we can not even have a reliable credit bureau.

  21. Wow I did not even know the law required people to report to the police station within 14 days. I had a situation where I had left my wallet that had my driving license at home and this officer impounded my vehicle and made me drive it to LSK Central Police and park it there. Tried to plead with him that I would report with my driving license and the guy wouldn’t budge ..it was really animal kingdom.

    I think we need this civilized way of treating citizens. I don’t care what people saw about lack of tracking people if they don’t report. Should we really continue to live in the the stone age for ever. It’s about time we developed and authorities should find out how other countries have done it and implement it in Zambia. Abash all these old fashioned way of policing and so called spot or instant fines. It’s about time we moved forward. By the way everyone in my family including my little kids and grand parents pay VAT taxes and so as a citizen I demand this be done using our taxes.

  22. Legitimate demand Marco. Although you elected officials to allocate public resources on your behalf, you need to demand a complete listing of all public services and surely match that up with the total tax revenue we pay. Otherwise we have all fancy technology and reduce on basic education.
    There’s techonology that will allow us to advance our basic welfare and economic productivity, and there’s technology that is largely just consumptive, i.e. convenience. Reality is we could afford the latter once we cross the $2000 per capita income. Right now at 400 bucks its a bridge too far.

  23. baMarco(22), bana kugwira na contravening??many a time,innocent Zambians have been victims too.I was once a victim and if it wasn’t for the Officer in Charge being a former classmate i was doomed to be guest of the state for the whole weekend!!The problem we have in Zambia is exposure.Many of our leaders have travelled the world but they never appreciate why they are developed.They live in posh hotels,travel in hired cars but never have a “living experience”.Cobra was in the Uk once(at his own expense),travelled by tube and the overground and came up with the brilliant idea of trains for local travel.Many Zambians thought he was mad..but it was exposure that opened his eyes to developmental possibilities.Nkaka Puta is the first one to suggest parking space fees in the capital,after “living” in Canada and seeing these things work first hand.Exposed and diaspora Zambians are our salvation.Umwana ushenda atasha nyina!!

  24. 22# Marco, Freedom is recognising your rights, rules, and regulations. By this no police officer will intimediate you. If anything only the court can loby you of your freedom and rights. Have you ever heard about M-Factor, effeciency exploitation, probably if you living longer and reach 2030 these words will not be new to you. I am an allein and I always ahead of life. A police officer who pounds a mini-bus by removing it out of the street for business is guilty of an offence which can see him even losing his job if procedures are followed. This is obstracting business which pipo depend on to earn a live. Driving a mini-business is also an economic activity just like flying a passengers plane. If these driver was wise he should have just stoped and pay the fine instead of causing an accident which so many pipo going for treatment yet causing more costs.

  25. Guys, I know you all mean well when you talk about databases and the like. However, you need to understand how ZPS operate. Road blocks are a source of illicit income for most police officers, especially junior officers. Any vehicle that escapes the net represents lost money. Therefore, police officers have a lot of incentive to chase and stop the vehicle. If the same officers were told that there was a robbery in progress somewhere, they would not be in a hurry to rush there. A friend of mine lost a lot of money at a bus station on the c/belt. He apprehended one of the members of the gang that robbed him and took him to the police station. The police dispatched an armed squad within minutes to track down the culprits. Two days later my friend was told that when they found the gang all the money had been spent. Someone else in the police force told him that the squad had recovered the money and shared it with the thieves. Here the incentive was the stolen money … cont’d

  26. #cont’d from #27. Police officers know that impounding vehicles is not always legal but they also know that as long as that threat exists, they can extract bribes from motorists. I am sure they would gladly circumvent or even sabotage any computer system as long as they continue being paid peanuts. In light of the IG’s directive, in future they will just make sure nobody escapes from a road block.

  27. #28 you are talking like you are part and parcel of the ZP who are not prepared to chance. How are other countries managing to put a strong and effective police force. In short you mean a police officer can watch while someone is being killed. Computer is not easy to manipulate as you put it. There must a will and no control. There set systems which you can not change the data. After you have rights which must be preserved.

  28. Gwembe, July 25, ZANIS – Africa Energy Cooperation, under the licence of Albidon Zambia Limited, is currently conducting a recognisance survey to ascertain the availability of uranium in Gwembe Valley. In an interview with ZANIS in Gwembe, District Commissioner Dorothy Hamvula said the team of mining experts had already arrived in the District. “These people are trying to establish the availability of uranium along Gwembe valley, and currently they are already in, and have began their works from Luumbo and Munakandi areas”, she said. Ms. Hamvula said the team of experts who came into the distrct about two weeks ago, had been cleared by the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development. The DC said Africa Energy Cooperation was granted a prospecting licence by the Mines Development Department, in March 2006, through Albidon Zambia Limited. She said the team which began their survey in Siavonga and Sinazongwe Districts, was moving along the Gwembe valley, in their quest to

  29. establish reports of the availability of Uranium deposits along the entire Zambezi Valley. She disclosed that the objective of the survey was to determine whether there was enough Uranium to warrant the establishment of a mine. However, the DC was unable to give further details saying that she could only do so after receiving feedback from the surveyors. Recently, there have been reports of the possible existence of Uranium deposits in Gwembe Valley.

  30. We need to give addresses to as much of our country as possible. The time I lived in South Africa they had just started a project of giving each shack in the shanties an address. Here in New Zealand they have a rural post that delivers mail to rural areas. Probably would not work in Zed but it would be worth a try. At the same time we can try and give street names.

  31. Iwe Mafi a Zimba, aikona kuzionesa ka, uli ku Kalingalinga and you think you’re in Christchurch New Zealand and want a rural post deliverer.

    As for Kaunda’s grand son, awe sure, I heard whom Sansakuwa has declared a wizard! One old man uwabula imishishi, e muloshi top one.

  32. Sage is right.Zambians, its high we invested in technology. A lot of problems we are facing can be sorted out by just a little investment in technology. The national ID, so called NRC which is a primary identification document is upto now 2007 not yet computerized.Meanwhile,GRZ is wasting tax payers money trying to computerize secondary documents like the passport and Driver licences.If the primary document is easy to forge than that renders secondary documents useless.Try to think politicitians.

  33. i do agree with most bloggers,primary identification documents need to be computerised for Zambia to make headway in development. Any form of development these days is closely linked to technology. if we are not substantially computerised then we wont get far with any developmental projects we want to undertake. it is so depressing to see how basic and irrelevant our NRC is in this modern world.Zambia should learn or at least copy the identification system used in RSA.Once that is in place, Bwana IG most of your work will be cut out

  34. i dont kn when us zambians will learn to have long term plans to safegaurd the lives of the many zambians who are dying becoz of our careleness

  35. Sad development! we have a problem in our country, the minibus drivers think they are the owners of the roads and our Police lets us down so many times.Killing innocent people and thinking they are above the law…one wonders.

  36. I personally think it is unwise to just think that technology will solve all problems. Most of you pro technologists are forgetting that first for a national database to work, we need good telecoms infrastructure. We also know that come rain, come sunshine lpm & co. are going to sell Zamtel, Zesco which are key assets for this western system work together with banking (ZANACO has gone already). The reason this so called lord cairns disagreed with lpm was that lpm was told by cairns to privatise Zamtel back in 2004 but of course that has not happened yet so cairns turned around and blasted lpm for not doing what he was told. My point is if Zamtel is going to be sold, it means that this so called national database will be in the hands of foreign private sector at some point. Let us not try to westernise Zambia and Africa!

  37. Iwe ci Citizen bushe uyu umukalamba obe chuchu kuti alaita ba Dr KK ati “this Chap”?Kwena bane namupwa umwenso tefyo? See the today’s post.Nangula ma polotikis bushe nifi? AM,BaJoze bushe muletipo shani pali uyu muntu wabula ubuyo? BaJoze first nabutukila kuma order ku Minsundu,twalaisamonana icungulo.

  38. #39 Awe ba Kuku, Chuchu aya sana, serious bane, someone need to psychological examine Chuchu, tali mubuntutulu te, kuti alaeba NTAMBA LUKUTA ifyofine, chibi sana. Mwamona nomba nayambukishako neci ci Pragamasist icilemba ici Arabic pa blog yama Zedians.

  39. Someone told me that when a traffic police officer is chasing an erring motorist he sees of 50pin (k50,000) on the screen of his mind!!

    Dont be cheated, these cops don’t chase the motorists to “enforce” the law. An erring motorist on the chase is a pottential 50pin in the pocket of a police officer. Because of this, a life has been lost. How sad. How very sad.

  40. There are many laws on our Statute books that only spring to life when something tragic has happened. In this case, the pronouncement by the IG, though late is welcome. We know it is going to be diffiult to enforce if it is not backed up by a national data base of all motor vehicles on our roads. But a good start would be for the police to have a register of public trasport operators and their fleets. That should not be too difficult. People talk of technology, but that kind of information can be held on a standard PC with 200GB or so capacity, in the police radion control center. All you need is the right software and constant updating of the information. We do not even need donor funding to implement it. What we need is ingenuity in the appropriate office of the police command and the ministry of home affairs.

  41. There are many laws on our Statute books that only spring to life when something tragic has happened. In this case, the pronouncement by the IG, though late is welcome. We know it is going to be diffiult to enforce if it is not backed up by a national data base of all motor vehicles on our roads. But a good start would be for the police to have a register of public trasport operators and their fleets. That should not be too difficult. People talk of technology, but that kind of information can be held on a standard PC with 200GB or so capacity, in the police radion control center. All you need is the right software and constant updating of the information. We do not even need donor funding to implement it. What we need is ingenuity in the appropriate office of the police command and the ministry of home affairs.

    I know there rotten eggs in the police service, but there are also many more trying to do an honest job. Whatever the case, we will have to do with what we have.

  42. Some of us who have the opportunity to travel widely in Africa and beyond have learnt to appreciate some of the things in Z that we take for granted. Some people in Z think that the police service in UK or Europe is nay better. Well, just take time to read the daily telegraph, the independent, news of the world and the like!

    In some parts of Africa, I have been the victim of crime at the hands of the police! Let us be balanced in our criticism of our police. But I do agree that most of the time, the men and women in the field are let down by the high command in the equipment and conditions in which thy are mande to work.

  43. Some of us who have the opportunity to travel widely in Africa and beyond have learnt to appreciate some of the things in Z that we take for granted. Some people in Z think that the police service in UK or Europe is better. It is, but given the amount of resources at thier disposal, there are many problems affecting their services as well. Just take time to read the daily telegraph, the independent, news of the world and the like!

    In some parts of Africa, I have been the victim of crime at the hands of the police! Let us be balanced in our criticism of our police. But I do agree that most of the time, the men and women in the field are let down by the high command in the equipment and conditions in which thy are made to work.

  44. Sage, thanks for your wonderful and progressive ideas. Its only in Zambia where you can drive a car without carrying a driver’s license, and police will let you go. In American, you can not hold a driver’s license if you dont’ have a car insurance, whether you own a car or not. As long as you can hold a driver’s license, you also need to have a car insurance, other than that, you can only hold a National Registration Card. But in Zambia, everyone holds a driver’s license without having a car insurance, and when they are involved in an accident, everyone loses. So, the GRZ should come up with a policy of every driver’s license holder, should also have a car insurance. Let the GRZ put a database for all license holders so that when they commit a traffic offense, they can be traced.

  45. Most zambian drivers cannot be traced, we barely even have proper homes with proper post office boxes, so things like sending a fine through the mail or even just tracking down an offender is very difficult. Arguably all developed countries have proper databases, i doubt if we even have one. If we do, the computer probably has a virus…

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