Friday, March 29, 2024

Former Lusaka police chief welcomes reforms

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Police in riot gear

FORMER Lusaka Division police commanding officer, Chendela Musonda has welcomed President Michael Sata’s announcement to implement police reforms in the country.

In an interview with the Times yesterday, Mr Musonda said the reforms would help the police to expand and at the same time improve its operations, which in turn would benefit the general public.

He said he was hopeful that President Sata would deliver on his promise to reform the Zambia Police Service, adding that reforms had been long overdue.

Mr Musonda said the delay in implementing the reforms had contributed to failure by the police service to be transformed.[pullquote] lack of transport at police stations was another issue that hampered the efforts of the police to effectively fight crime in the communities.It was frustrating for police officers to fail to rush to a crime scene or even be able to respond to emergency calls from the public because the service had no vehicles for its officers to use.[/pullquote]

President Sata said, when he announced the police reforms, that big police divisions would be headed by police commissioners, which would add to efficiency of the police instead of deputy police commissioners as was currently the case.

Mr Musonda, who is currently working as a senior legal consultant for the National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) in Lusaka, also called for motivation of police officers to be made a top priority in order to avoid making them vulnerable to corruption and enhance the fight against rising crime.

“There is need to motivate the police officers such as giving them better perks, accommodation and other tools to prevent them from falling prey to the vice of corruption,” he said.

He said crime, which was relatively high especially in Lusaka Province, needed the combined efforts of the police and the general public to be able to wipe it out.

Mr Musonda said lack of transport at police stations was another issue that hampered the efforts of the police to effectively fight crime in the communities.

He said it was frustrating for police officers to fail to rush to a crime scene or even be able to respond to emergency calls from the public because the service had no vehicles for its officers to use.

Mr Musonda further called for intensive training programmes from the police top brass to the reserve police in order for them to update themselves on new policing methods and the law.

He said experience alone was not enough but constant upgrading would help the service improve its services.

Mr Musonda said that the nation would not develop if there was no investment in good security.

21 COMMENTS

  1. Keep modernizing the Police. The way we see other police in action on international TVs like CNN, you realize how poorly equiped our police is.

  2. One MCS reduce funding to ZAF and ARMY but increase to POLICE and ZNS. Make police training more inclusive and professional it will do more for this country than ZAF. 

  3. One MCS POLICE and ZNS can be a thousand more useful to this nation than ZAF and ARMY believe me . Make POLICE training more inclusive and professional.

  4. its good to hear from you mr. musonda. the enviroment is now enabling than in the previuos govt. with your observations, credible as they are, you would have benn called all sorts of names from the likes of cifire, lifwekelo, mumbi, siulapwa and the fake born again clergy.

    at least in this govt you are now free to contribute in anyway you feel like.

    viva sata.

  5. The only tool to control people in the possession of our police are guns with live ammo. Reforms are really most welcome. Our Police need the right resources to deals with the various issues they confront. It should not always aiming guns at heads, please.

  6. President Sata last 2 weeks stated that he would reduce the gap in the salary structures in the Armed Forces, ZP, and Prisons Service. Very interesting. Let us look at the entry qualifications for each wing and they type of training they do after doing the basics. How can a police Sgt get the same salary like a flight sgt in ZAF who is an aircraft technician or Engineer. A commando (sgt) in Zambia Army get same as one in ZNS. I remember during my school leaver days adverts used to be run for recruitment for police constables as Form V failurers while ZAF & OP were getting the cream of school leavers who had at leat a credit maths. And some of our friends are still serving and have risen to senior positions but their academic credtials were not impressive. Now we hav graduates its better.

    • mr bwanamkubwa I can see your british orientation, in lands with equal oppportunities, they no longer put emphasis on certificates or degrees for that matter, but on skills, any training that gives you skills to deliver effectively in your work and any job that is people service orieanted, pays well because the prime responsibilities of gvts is to look after their pipo, thats why in North America for example health workers, policemen and soldiers are well looked after and not the accountants or the proffessors for that matter!

  7. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?? A BEMBA CHAP GIVING ANOTHER BEMBA LUNATIC ADVICE OR COMPLIMENT, WHATEVER?? ANYWAY, I WONT BE SHOCKED IF MUSONDA IS GIVEN A JOB BY CHILUFYA. WE SHUD NOW ALL CHANGE NAMES INTO BEMBA TO GET SOMETHING OUT OF THIS GOVERNMENT OF THE BEMBA EMPIRE WHICH EXTENDS INTO CONGO DR AND TANZANIA.

  8. At all you disgruntled opposition supporters, stop accusing the president of being tribal. A president must choose people he entrusts to fill his administration and that’s what he has done. Tribalism is a two sided coin; the fact that you can identify it means that you are in a way being tribalist too. We must overlook such divisions all together. If you support HH I feel sorry for you. HH has lost all direction and honour and 8 out of every 10 Zambians can tell you so and that statistic is supported from the fact that he only obtained 20% of the vote and you damn right know where all his votes came from- one province. HH is the least popular politician in Zambia and second only to Julius Malema as the least popular in southern Africa. (By popular I mean desirable).

  9. It’s high time our police force went air borne also.

  10. Musonda is a lawyer who was fired for saying Sata can not be local when he was commanding officer of Lusaka divinion by the boma during his term of office.The following day he lost his job.We need to train that grounp of officers who did 3 threes months training,one of them is Mutemba,i hope IG DID a full 12 months at lilayi and some part at Sondela

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