HOME Affairs minister Kennedy Sakeni says roadblocks at strategic points in the country must remain in place to enhance security but they won’t be mounted indiscriminately like the case was in the past.
Mr Sakeni said police must understand that there is no ‘blanket ban’ on roadblocks and checkpoints in Zambia.
He said in an interview yesterday that police officers should mount roadblocks in designated areas to curb crime.
He said mounting police check points and roadblocks in crime-prone areas is critical, to deter potential offenders and reduce the rate of crime.
Former Inspector-General of Police Martin Malama had banned roadblocks in some parts of the country because he felt that the checkpoints were fuelling corruption among police officers. He instead intensified patrols.
“I want to urge police not to go to sleep but ensure they put road blocks in strategic areas to control criminal activity such as stocktheft and smuggling. At no time did Government abolish roadblocks. All we did was to instruct police to put up checkpoints in strategic areas only,” Mr Sakeni said.
He said Government would like to maintain roadblocks that are aimed at combating crime, not irrelevant police checks which encourage bribery.
Mr Sakeni said it is sad that since the announcement of the ban on some roadblocks, police officers in the country have slackened in performing their duties.
“We never said all checkpoints must be stopped. Our aim was just to get rid of the irrelevant ones. Surprisingly, police officers in the country seem to have gone into a slumber and are performing their duties in a substandard manner,” Mr Sakeni said.
Mr Sakeni said it is important for the police to be vigilant and professional as they carry out their duties.
He said police officers should not wait for authority from his office to mount checkpoints and roadblocks in areas where they see a need.
“Once an officer reviews the security situation where he is stationed and discovers that crime is rampant, they can mount a roadblock or checkpoint to curb criminal activities,” Mr Sakeni said.
Mr Sakeni called for professionalism and integrity in the police. Dr Malama, who awaits redeployment, had made it clear that in the absence of roadblocks, patrols were going to be intensified but it’s unclear whether his officers intensified them.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
never never land
Thats de problem wen one is working under political directives to please the appointing authoritie. The best thing to do is to consult the division commanders or Officers -In-Charge of station to give guidance on wen and where do we need to remove and mantain the roadblocks.If Sakeni was carryout a survey ,he will discover that from the time roadblocks were abolished alot of vehicles and alot of copper including animal;s have been stolen and nothing is recovered.GET GUIDANCE FROM A CONSTABLE SEARGENT OR AN ISPECTOR ON THAT IMPORTANT MATTER.
Security in every stata is paramount,there was no need to make a press comference on road blocks all what we needed is to change these traffic officers,’koswe nga akokola”,assist these officers by changing them.There is no police officer who cant perform these duties so i see no reason why some officers have been in the same unit for over 20 years pf assist us.
I hope we are not going back to police state with roadblocks all over. It shows that Zed is not at peace and it broods corruption and one can never be on time because of unnecessary stoppages. Find ways of preventing crime instead of being stationery on roadblocks thinking thats the best way of preventing crime. Pls be innovative.
good one babe.
Its a wonderfull move by the minister, I salute him. But the most woring thing is that instead of fighting crime like the minister is sayng,the police are mounting road blocks every where with min buses being on target.we have on several times seen more than 15 police officers on a road block in places like round abouts,fly over bridges etc. yet there are police stations which are just maned by two officers in the night and these are crime proan areas.when one is attacked in the night they tel you there is no man power yet a number of them were just chasing busses during the day. I pray that the newly appointed IG Will change things.It seems the role of the police has shifted from combating crime to trafic.
We need to concentrate on fighting crime and also to have a team of NON CORRUPTIBLE plain clothes volunteers using road blocks and reporting back on what’s going on with the police manning them. At the moment people are afraid to report corruption BECAUSE THEY KNOW THE OFFICERS INVOLVED WILL PROBABLY NOT BE PUNISHED AND WILL THEREAFTER TAKE IT OUT ON THEM WHEN THEY HAVE TO USE THE SAME ROAD. What is going on is very very bad. No wonder some of the police have goods and vehicles way beyond that which their income could provide.:(
Intensify road patrols, not resurrecting corruption breeding road blocks.
no road blocks please. we have made these good for nothing traffic officers very rich indeed.
iam sure even the new IG beautiful libongani from luapula, is aware of the corruption that go with these road blocks. the way forward is to let check points, manned by infantry police officers and let these corrupt traffic officers continue with side road checks only.
sorry, meant “road side checks.”
The police stopped working in protest of abolished road blocks- nice one, no road blocks no motivation.Lol
Train more foresic cops
It’s true that roadblocks have been abused by police officers as they have been using them to steal from innocent Zambians through threats and bribery. Road patrols are much, much better. Road blocks could be better if police officers desist using them as a means of making quick money, stealing from the public.