INSPECTOR-GENERAL of Police Martin Malama has directed traffic police officers to stop collecting fines but instead issue erring motorists with tickets.
Dr Malama said in Lusaka on Tuesday the Zambia Police Service will work in collaboration with the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) to ensure that a proper system is put in place.
“We are looking at the way traffic police have been operating; we are looking at how to further discourage the practice of paying money to police officers when a traffic offence has been committed. Tickets will be issued.
“We have informed RTSA and directed Commissioner for Central Province, Dr Solomon Jere, and other senior officers to sit down in Livingstone so that we can work out a mechanism in which our people will be able to travel without being inconvenienced,” he said.
Dr Malama said police, in collaboration with RTSA, want to look at the new measure so that traffic offences can be paid for preferably at a bank. He said the nation will be kept informed on this matter.
And Dr Malama said investigations into corruption cases have continued.
“Allow me to beg your indulgence that we have opted and restrained ourselves not to discuss these matters in the press for one reason: that we have just gone through a campaign period, a lot of information has gone out, we want to do our job in a very professional manner. If we bring them out in the public domain, it will compromise our investigations,” he said.
Meanwhile,POLICE in Ndola have recovered 28 tonnes of copper cathodes worth K1.1 billion that were stolen from a truck which was in transit on Monday this week. Copperbelt acting police commanding officer Milner Muyambango said 14 people, among them four Lebanese, have since been arrested in connection with the copper theft.
Mr Muyambango said the copper cathodes were recovered at a private garage in Kitwe around midnight on Tuesday. “We have recovered the 14 bundles of copper cathodes that were stolen from a Congolese truck belonging to Shemas Transport Company. The truck was found empty and abandoned at Luanshya turn-off. The driver is still at large and we are looking for him,” Mr Muyambango said.
Speaking at a press briefing in Ndola yesterday Mr Muyambango said the 14 people who have been picked up are in police custody at Ndola Central police station, and are helping the police with investigations into the theft.
He said the suspects will appear in court once investigations are concluded. Mr Muyambango said the truck, registered in DR Congo, was found abandoned at Luanshya turn-off without copper cathodes which had been loaded on it.
“The suspects will appear in court once we conclude all the investigations, and I want to warn copper thieves that the police will not relent in ensuring that we get rid of these criminals,” Mr Muyambango said.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
Nominations for 2011 blogger of the year:
1. For the most objective – MMD chiefbootlicker, senior citizen
2. For the eccentric – mushota
3. For the most fanatical – maestro hehehehehehe, kizito, mr. capatialist
@1 your point being ?
and then????
nice one…ba police mwachilamo……no more kudyamo…..
It’s good the Zambia Police is coming up with ways of offering the motorists an efficient service.
As for the investigations into corruption cases we are still waiting for the outcome/s.
that’s a good move BWANA I G your boys were so corrupt they were not giving us the receipt once your car is impounded.please bwana stop this nosense were all the police post are getting money from people for the so called SHISHITA or loitering.i have said this cause once you are arrested for shishita you told to pay k20,000 without giving a receipt. my appeal to you bwana to send auditors to these police post and audit these monies they collect for shishita.
Suggestion. Let the erri nh g party pay through the courts failure to which a warrant if arrest can be issued.
It is a good move but it needs an implementation strategy! That is what the law says but i wander we have been paying these officers.
#1 madhorse, i love it! great nominations. Am i the only one that is wondering how the senior senior police brass now are DR. so and so? hehe. My late father was in the police service since he was 19 and after serving for over 4o years was forced into retirement because of his moral integrity. He had no time for getting a doctorate and spent his whole adult life in the service of Zambia .He must be looking down from up in heaven and laughing at the circus that has become the Zambia Police Service. As someone in a movie once said” Want to find a corrupt cop, just dial 911″. Great move with the ticket system, these guys shouldnt handle cash.
Please, respect Dr Malama. he is a medical doctor, a wonderful committed Christian. Dont just open your mouth, read around first.
He’s got a medical back ground…he was evem incharge of the HIV unit before sent to the Copperbelt
Mr IG kindly start with chingola central police
Great move. But how will people be prevented from paying the officer not to give them a ticket? I hope this will be addressed, and another thing for offences like musonko, fitness and the like i think it will be more efficient for RTSA to automatically charge you for the offence by charging your car account for late payment. I am also optimistic that the same can be done for insurance with proper planning and coordination with insurance companies. And for goodness’ sake pay these cops a little more.
Good idea Mr IG
But how am I going to feed my 8 children and how am I going to maintain my pot-belly if I stop collecting nchekelako?
Who told u 2 be fathering like a pig\:d/
Yazanda traffic cops,it was just too much,burning fuel chasing helpless people just to enrich themselves.
Infact that system of ticketing is already in place its only a few disgrutled police who were disregarding it.I remember three months ago,a policeman from RTSA stoped me for over speeding.He told me to go to ridgeway RTSA and pay then inform him aftermaking a payment.I told him to jst impound the vehicle coz i didnt have the money.He refused to do so and gave me a week in which to sort that issue out.Look i was shocked to find such a policeman in zambia.This is a very good system by the Police.I totally support it.
thats a good move but how much will it cost. us
Hi guys!! You are not saying anything about the the copper cathodes? For you who were already “human beings” and not embryos, during the ZCCM time, did you ever hear of copper thefts, even if in transit? Kafupi has really left a big problem behind!!
Shiwanya, High Copper theft now has been caused by the high copper price. Even in places like USA people steel small amounts of copper found in aircons to make a small buck. ZCCM time copper price was very low and no one bothered about the metal. I remember Zesco used to replace damaged copper cables in my area and we would get the damaged ones and make wire cars.
Dr. Malama is a qualified medical doctor nd no wat one blogger is allegin
Its an exellent idea but I dont see how it will end corruption coz its basically the same thing – instead of being taken to central police and be charged (old system), u are just given a ticket. In both situations, someone can get away with the crime by just paying the cop k20. Ending corruption wud require changing the mind set of the zambians (both the motorists and the cops), but I dont see this happening in foreseeable future
Good move.all this happeing under PF.donchi yamu nice.
WHAT???? Offenders were paying money directly to police officers all along? No wonder this sector is broke with no cars, etc. There are so many traffic offenders and if the traffic dept management could be serous that dept would be rich
#7 truth hurts
Dr malama is a qualified medical doctor!! he is no match to ur 40 year police serving dad!! truth hurts… lol
Thats how developed countries raise revenues and keep roads perfect.
Great move,but still corruption by these Traffic Police Officers will never be stopped.These guys are really shamelessly corrupt,*****ic and stupid.more especially on the Copperbelt. Chililabombwe is the worst followed by Chingola,then Mufulira and Luanshya.Bwana IG,your officers over stay at their stations.Consider also transferring all the Chingola speed trap team. Those two guys and a lady are damn corrupt.
Well done???Good Ideas, also improve a process on application of licenses, your Officers are very corrupt. Honestly cannot believe that the whole process takes about 6 months unless wacheka. Then would get it in a day. MMD really brought Zambia backward.
#20. barotse. I know most of you pf kaponyas picked up English in Chibuku Taverns. But what u r trying to say is that the 40yr serving cop is no match for Dr Malama, right? Or maybe your reference is for another debate?
WHERE IS KABONDE?
#23
i was just tryin to clarify as to why Doc malama is refered to as a Dr… finshi fyakukalipa apapene? being IG is the dream of every cop! i stand corrected kaili im kaponya
boi tell that chikala, some year back education was not that important in the service but now it matter. now i see who is a kaponya chikala Mufuna wamahafu. shit
boi tell that chikala, some year back education was not that important in the service but now it matter. now i seehttp://www.lusakatimes.com/smilies/yahoo_cry.gif who is a kaponya chikala Mufuna wamahafu. shithttp://www.lusakatimes.com/smilies/yahoo_cry.gif
how honest are this kaponya driverskaya if it will work in zambia were people do not respect the law. As DR titles, Malama is a qualfied medical doctor and Solomon Jere has it in law they are not honourary like others.it is unfortunate that your father did not read may be the level of education he had when joining the police.
DR MALAMA IS A QUALIFIED MEDICAL DOCTOR PLUS HE IS DOING ANOTHER DOCTORATE IN POLITICAL SCIENCE. ASK DR. SOLOMON JERE OR BRENDA MUTEMBA. THEY WILL TELL YOU THAT THE MAN IS INTELLIGENT AND DESERVES TO BE IG .
DON’T ARGUE, ASK JERABOS OF HOW INCORRUPTIBLE HE IS. THEY WILL BE SANITY IN POLICE FORCE WITHIN A YEAR ESPECIALLY THAT THE COMMANDA OF ARMED FORCES WAS A POLICE MAN IN SHORT PEMUDA’S BY THEN BEFORE INDEPENDENCE
Do they need to go to Livingstone for this?
Good move but needs to be handled with caution in that measures need to be put in place that will ensure that money due to grz reaches gvt coffers. Here is a situation, the offence committed has a charge of K540,000 or K270,000 whatever the case and a cop says give me K50,000 or K20,000 obviously the difference between the two options is huge and someone would rather they paid less money. Therefore it either the charges are reduced or put measures that will encourage offenders to pay at the police station. Tickets will be there but what if the cops dedicde not to use them except for those that insist or worse still they print fake tickets?
My advice to the IG on imisonko. Please introduce a system which is here in Uganda. Here there is no imisonko bwana. The umusonko here is imbedded in the fuel price. As long as you are buying fuel for your vehicle, you are paying umusonko. Therefore, no one here gets impounded for not paying umusonko.That way, no once cheats. everyone pays.
Wise East Africans.
And if your vehicle uses Solar ?
Fact is that the penalty fees are just too high to stop erring motorists from giving a 20 pin or even 50 pin to these officers for a cold drink. Its complicated, but from where I stand the choice between parting away with 20 pin or 540 pin depending on the offence, is pretty simple.
Joseph Mulauzi has at least hit the punch line. The ticket system is just the reprica of the receipt system and can not in anyway get rid of bribes we pay to Traffic Officers. In fact and in my opinion, it will worsen the already bad situationt. The whole idea of paying at the bank is likely to create a big problem. Very few motorists will opt to go and pay at the bank. It will be more attractive to any rational mind to pay a bribe than the tedious lot of driving to the bank to join the queue just to pay for a traffic offence that one could have cleared with a K20,000. It wont work, its not a solution, its actually a problem to the problem. The solution in my opinion will be, to install centrally monitored cameras at every traffic point to ensure that there is integrity in their work.
This kind of interaction between police and community is very healthy.Dr Malama is bringing professionalism in the service.This is what we have been looking for.corruption with such publicity will be gone.
Secondly, Traffic Officers at the check points should merely record the offences and refer the offender to the nearest post station. No matters of finance sholud be discussed on the road or indeed the roadside. Neither receipt, nor ticket issuance at the check point. All payments to be made at the police station, period. In this way, no bribes will be exchanged at the check points as only one officer at the police station will be reeiving the fines.
Can somebody tell me! What happened to Kavindele after the elections? The man has become so mute after mmd lost inspite of him talking too much during run up to elections. Is he still around???
@Binagel Mkwala, We dont want those cameras you are proposing,You are the same people who are taking us back.Policemen are not cashiers to be collecting cash on roads.Imagine those disgruntled polise officers who select high fines frm charge list,threaten to impound your car if you dont pay on top of that they threaten to lock you up because you are so chick.How do you expect any person react.These people will say i dont have money, i only have 50 pin boss.They get it and off the guy goes. To a motorist the guy is happy he has sorted out the problem with less money.Now imagine if we are given enough time to look for money, lets say to pay within 1 month.Thats a fair deal, personally i would be ok with that.If a motorist defaults,when renwing your musonko they can still recover that
I have yet to read something positive about the Lebanese in Zambia, all you hear about them is lawlessness and crookedness. What is their developmental contribution to Zambia?
I totally support the move, there is need to provide an intra-net between RATSA and Police. The whole act of cops collecting cash from motorists does not create a good control environment to fight corruption. The tone at the Top by the IG is a step in a good direction, there is also need to carefully evaluate the option of process re-engineering so that any bugs that may occur can be delt with immediately. It is high time our police, hospitals started implementing management tools for strategic repositioning such as the BSC (a good model that has worked well for the Canadian Hospitals), Six Sigma and Lean Management. Free consultancy from Zambian Dream…
#38, not forgetting abuse of workers, racism, drug traffiking and the making of pornographic films involving Zambian girls and all types of animals from Noah’s collection. These Lebanese have to be taught who is the rightful ruler of this country.
Hahahahaha you have tekunyad me. Ati from Noah’s collection.
this ticket system can not work in Zambia gentlemen lets be realistic..look at the way they removed road brocks in CB there are more pipo disobeying traffic rules than b4..paying at the bank which honest person will go and deposit 540pin for not putting on the seat belt?
How many Zambians live in Lebanon?what are these fools doing in Zambia?
As long as traffic offences fines are unreasonably high corruption can still occur at ticket point.Pls give penalties that pay fine within so many days failure prosecution or withdrawal or suspension from driving if offend for so many times.Others warning or impounding MV
The charges are to high, they encourage corruption. IG if the charge for a defective bulb is K 154 000.00, it is only wise that I give the cop K50 000.00 and find K15 000.00 for a bulb instead of me paying K154 000.00
This is a non starter. If this is what the IG has come up with,With imidiate effect..
There will still be a loop hole with this system unless they also plan to mount CCTV cameras in police cars like they do here in England. Every incident involving the police and the public gets recorded as such, you just can’t bribe the officer and drive off. Like # 44 (Charges) has said, what will stop a motorist paying the officer directly if he get away with a lesser fine? I say it won’t work until all police cars have fully functional CCTV cameras inside and that the police themselves are honest enough to record every incident to which their attention is called.
Imbwa, how many Zambians live in Germany? Get your ass back here!
they can always work out an incentive of some sort to Traffic officers for every ticket issued….and put in place a system that ensures offenders pay up or face tough consequences…
This is good as a lot of vehicles will disappear from the roads as the owners are not able to pay the new fines. Bravo! Bravo
It is a good idea and it also prevents corruption. They just need to put in measures where offenders will not escape the loop but pay up their fines.
This still doen’t change anything. The issue is the police officers will let you go without booking you for paying K10,000 for less serious offences & up to K50,000 for more serious offences.
This will continue if the fines are not reduced!!
The policemen at the checkpoint on the way to KK international Airport should be removed. As soon as you arrive in Zambia they remind you of the Inconvenience you about to start experiencing. Even to a tourist they are not inspiring. Please remove them from there. For sure security checks are conducted at the airport as one comes in the country or leaves.
Best move IG. You can start by revising the penalties. The traffic penalties are too high that is why drivers opt for a bribe than going to pay so of these astronomical penalties. There is a misconception that high penalties deter traffic offences, to the contrary they encourage corruption. For example in Zim traffic related offences like overspeeding, no licence etc costs you USD10, the Tall gate is USD1. Why should I bribe an officer for such a fee? So bwana IG the cure is first revise the penalties so that there is no incentive to bribe a cop. Then bring in modern Tech like VISA cards where as motorists pay instantly using cards than cash
Good strategy but what happens if you don’t pay is the system so advanced and computerised that it can sort a defaulter’s number plates!!
TEN MOTORIST ARE IMPOUNDED AND FINED 270,000 EACH.TRAFFIC OFFICER ASK FOR A 100,000 BRIBE.3 PAYS 270,000 WITH RECEIPT AND 7 BRIBES THE OFFICER 100,000 WITHOUT RECEIPT.SO IT IS BETTER TO REDUCE THE FINE FROM 270,000 TO 100,000 SO THAT THE 100,000 GOES STRAIGHT INTO THE COFFERS OF THE GOVT THAN INDIVIDUALS.
SHOULD ANY DRIVER FAILS TO PAY,IT IS VERY SIMPLE.WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN IS ONCE IMPOUNDED THE VEHICLE NUMBER PLATE SHOULD BE SUBMITTED TO RATSA SO THAT THE NEXT TIME ONE GOES TO PAY ROAD TAX THE SYSTEM WILL NOT ALLOW UNTIL THE FINE IS PAID.
This move by Police Command is long over-due. A clique of Police Officer have been ambushing innocent motorists on dubious speed limits to earn a living from travellers. A case in point is a road block that is occasionally mounted on Ndola Rd between Kafulafuta River and the Luanshya Turn-off trapping motorists bound for Kapiri on fake charges of driving above 60km speed limit. Another road block is set up along Luanshya-Kitwe Rd where the road is dotted with numerous pot-holes but Police also slam charges of driving above 60 km limit- obviously along a terrain that is impossible for drivers to over-speed. This particular ambush is reserved to charge Zambian-driven vehicles who are induced to pay cash as foreign trucks are allowed to drive through un-molested. Stop this corruption!
really over due
We thank the IG for the move we support the idea, but should not end there. My opinion is that, the fine also should be reduced to a resonable amount so that motorist will be proud to say am going to pay to office when they are asked a bribe. This will help to reduce corruption, but with this heavy fine corruption will be diffibult to stop it.
Mr. IG also concider those in the Un missions, no one is surpposessed to stay more than one year, others are staying more than 2 years while others are just langwishing in the country trying to go for UN missions as well.
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