Screenshot of the incident
* A police uniform is not a weapon to threaten a civilian regardless of anything
* Top priority of complaints by most foreigners from the civilized world is our police on the roads
Analysis by Duncan Mlanjira
A video clip shared on Facebook by commentator of social ills, Julius Zimwanda Mithi of Malawi traffic police officers involved in an embarrassing harassment moment with a motorist, has ignited hot debate on social asking for the need of these officers to be reined in from issuing threats to motorists.
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Caught in the act, the video clip — that has gone viral on social media — does not indicate what offense the motorist violated but he is seen to be very agitated as the police officer is heard ordering him to pay a fine he was ordered to.
The motorist is visibly very defiant that he would not pay the fine and the traffic police officer is hear ordering him to hand over keys to his vehicle registration number CK3604, to which the owner vehemently refuses to do so.
The officer is seen physically assaulting the motorist and is heard uttering demeaning words to him while demanding for the car keys and in his anger the motorist throws back the same demeaning words, which now angers the policeman more.
His colleagues silently try to calm down the situation but the officer still becomes more agitated and threatens to handcuff the motorist, who by now is very emotionally charged having being pushed and shoved by the man in uniform.
This begged a lot of questions from Mithi’s Facebook followers, who did not mince words in their defence of the motorist — albeit that they did not know the offense that he committed — but were not pleased with the conduct of the officer, which they described as unprofessional.
One commentator asked Malawi Police Service to re-train its officers, saying “a uniform is not a weapon to threaten a civilian regardless of anything” — alleging that there no clause in their laws or traffic laws that gives them the mandate to confiscate a motorist’s car.
Max Butao Blair advised the Malawi Police Service that they can do better than this, saying the officers think that when they are in uniform they can intimidate the public — which “is a wrong mentality”.
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Joseph Ngwira described the police service as “a disgrace and very unprofessional”, saying top priority of complaints by most foreigners from the civilized world “is our police on the roads — very corrupt in the way they operate”.
Another commentator, Eustina Make Yankho was incredulous of the high charged emotions of the traffic police officer, while hinting that when they are broke, they tend to behave that way “most of the times”.
To which Phaskani Nyirenda agreed, saying “a broke officer is an angry officer”, which prompted Evans Harawa to join in asking why the officer wasn’t cool in discussing with the motorist.
Samuel Lwara said: “We do not know where we are heading as a nation and the leaders to take us there” — but is it?
Just on April 12, when President Lazarus Chakwera presided over the passing out parade of 1,367 recruits from the 1st cohort of the 2023/2024 Malawi Police Service basic recruit training course at Limbe Police Training School in Blantyre, he urged the new constables to uphold integrity in carrying out their duties for a lawful and peaceful Malawi.
On his Facebook page, the President went further to say he reminded the new recruits of their obligation to uphold values that guide their profession as a disciplined force, adding: “My administration will continue investing in building a modern law enforcement service that has enough capacity to promote law and order and facilitate the entrenchment of civic rights.”
In a report by Malawi News Agency (MANA), he was quoted as urging the new law enforcers to protect their uniform by upholding values of integrity, professionalism, and service to the community.
“Don’t forget to do your job with expertise and always make sure that you abide by the law,” he said. “There are a few police officers that ruin the reputation of other good ones — be the first ones to set a good example as you help in our communities to give them an assurance that you will carry out your work efficiently.”
Even Inspector General of Police, Merlyne Nachulu Yolamu also urged the recruits to serve with patriotism, love, and integrity as they carry out their duties.
Obviously, Chakwera knows better the attitude of traffic police officers, having witnessed it first hand before he became President in coming out with the assertion that “there are a few police officers that ruin the reputation of other good ones” and from the comments that Mithi’s post attracted, they agree with Chakwera’s sentiments made on April 12 — less than a month ago.
Towards the festive season last year, the Directorate of Road Traffic & Safety Services, in collaboration with Malawi Police Service, warned the general public that they were to enhance traffic law enforcement and road safety awareness excersices on all public roads — targeting different road users.
Among the alerts to observe include over-speeding; drink & drive overloading and reckless driving — all just targeting motorists and none were for passenger motorbike taxis, commonly known as Kabaza.
These Kabaza operators continue to recklessly crisscross public roads and without wearing helmets, not insured, without registration plates and driving with complete disregard of traffic rules.
Kabaza operators can be a nuisance on the roads
They are the largest contributors of injuries as indicated by Malawi Orthopaedic Association (MOA) president, Moreen Sabawo in May last year, saying that increased road accidents are by Kabaza operators compared to motor vehicles.
During the commemoration of Africa Road Safety Day in 2022, Minister of Transport & Public Works, Jacob Hara also expressed concern over the increasing number of road accidents in the country which are caused by cyclists — a development which is making government to lose a lot of financial resources.
Hara said this when he cheered road accident victims at Mzuzu Central Hospital, observing that they are not adhering to road safety rules and regulations — while sharing worrying statistics that about 80% of the accidents are caused by the cyclists.
The Road Traffic & Safety Services indicated that a training manual had been developed after statistics indicated that about 20 motorcyclists lost their lives in 2015 with 144 lives lost in 2021 while in 2022, 121 motorcyclists lost their lives from January to June.
The Africa Road Safety Day was commemorated under the theme: ‘Cyclists, Adhere to Road Traffic Rules and Regulations, or Else, Hospital or Mortuary Awaits You!’ — and while it is expected of the traffic police to ensure road safety by policing the motorcyclists, their concentration is just on motorists.
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Some of the defects on cars that they detect for which they immediately issue offence tickets can be misdemeanors, which they are supposed to alert the motorists to rectify as a matter of urgency.
These include non-functional brake lights, indicators, windscreen washers, non-availability of triangle reflectors, no spare tyre, being caught speeding at stretches where the road sign posts were removed by vandals.
The officers who enforce speeding limits along trading centres sort of ambush motorists as their make sure their vehicles are hidden off view and the camera handler stands out of sight behind a tree — all along very much aware of the absence of speed warning signposts.
Caught in the act of an ambush
There are many instances that traffic police officers do annoy motorists over what could have been a case of negotiation but they completely ignore the motorists’ defence cases.
When one tries to reason with them, they always retort: “Inuyo mukuziona kuti mumadziwa malamulo kwambiri (are you posing that you know the law much better than us?” — of course, every citizen is supposed to know the laws of the Republic because ignorance of the law is not an excuse in a court of law.
This kind of attitude towards motorists is what leads to altercations like the ones Mithi shared with the public of social media — and many of such have been posted before.
These postings on social media are meant to expose the Malawi Police that, while it was reformed from being a Force before multiparty system of government to a Police Service three decades ago, some of the officers are still in the ‘Force’ mode.
Malawi is going digital in almost all service deliveries and it is high time the Malawi Police Service’s traffic rules enforcement fines migrated into that area where offenders should be issued with a digitally discharged charge sheet indicating a specific timeline to pay the fine at the bank.
Those who would fail to do, after being read their Miranda rights that failure to do so would be tantamount to serious repercussions, could be easily traced digitally along public roads that have speed enforcement cameras.
Speed limit signs should be visible because not every motorists is aware of every stretch of the country’s roads — what if they are foreigners. Lack of them and trying to enforce is an ambush, so to say.
On April 12, President Chakwera asked the new recruits: “Don’t forget to do your job with expertise and always make sure that you abide by the law”, while Inspector General asked them — rather ordered — “to serve with patriotism, love, and integrity as they carry out their duties”; a stark reminder even to the veteran cops to follow suit.
Otherwise, with the advent of camera phones, our traffic police officers will continue being exposed to embarrassing issues such as what was shared by Mithi and others before him.
Another recap, the President also said: “My administration will continue investing in building a modern law enforcement service that has enough capacity to promote law and order and facilitate the entrenchment of civic rights.”
