Corruption in the police service

By Mwape Musonda

Last Sunday after church we decided to take a drive around Lusaka town just to assess the political atmosphere as we headed to the elections. Without realizing that the musonko on the car had expired because we hadn’t used it for some time, we took off and before we knew it we found ourselves in the dragnet of traffic police officers.
“Yes bwana,” we greeted them and their response was “mulibe musonko, ndimwe ochimwa parkingani paja.” The charge was driving a motor vehicle with expired road tax and we were asked to pay the penalty of K450.00 on the spot.

We asked the officers to issue us with the charge sheet to enable us pay on a later date and they obliged but it is what we witnessed on the roadside that has prompted us to put together this piece of write up.
Whilst on the scene, the officer who got our car keys got into a car belonging to another traffic offender and we decided to follow him there and when we got to the car we found the officer tucking money in his socks and when he saw us he got visibly upset and commanded us to get back to our car.

“Niza mipeza ku motoka yanu” he yelled because he knew that we saw what he did to that money that was meant to go into government coffers. Instead of going to the control 99 account the money was deposited into the possibly sowed socks of the officer as if he would get any interest after a month or year.

The officer once again reminded us of how rife corruption is among traffic police officers despite the sensitization campaigns against the vice being carried out by Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) and the Anti-corruption Commission.

The way he shamelessly tucked away that money made us realize that it is surely an uphill battle to fight corruption in the Police especially that even the Anti-corruption Commission acknowledged in their statement last month that it is almost impossible to stop corruption in the service.
The Zambia Bribe Payers Index (ZBPI) survey in 2014 rated the Zambia Police Service traffic section as the most corrupt institution. The survey which was jointly conducted by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) also ranked the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) second.

Going by what we witnessed last Sunday, we are very certain that if another survey was to be taken today, it would reveal that the corruption index among traffic officers has doubled if not tripled compared to the 2014 index because the marginal spending propensity for most of these officers has increased from what it was then.

We agree with the Anti-Corruption Commission when they say that it difficult to curb this corruption because the traffic offenders are also a big culprit in the corruption circle but we disagree with them when they insist on blaming the offender’s entirely soaring statistics of the vice.
Our view is that the factor that has caused this havoc in so far as this corruption is concerned is the hiked fines for traffic offenses and if this factor is addressed in the affirmative substantial progress can be recorded in this fight.

We condemn the hiked fines in the strongest terms because they have led us to the place we are right now where the police officer receives the money meant to go to the treasury because he/she can offer a discount to the traffic offender.

If these fines where to be reduced to say a maximum of K50.00, almost every traffic offender would choose to pay to the original BOMA and no to these self-acclaimed Demi-BOMA’s who mount unnecessary roadblocks/toll gates on our roads in search of daily cashing as if the Zambian roads are their own business investments.

We cannot delve into detailing the categories of traffic offenses what the respective fines would be but we are very certain that if this was to be evaluated carefully it can alter the overall picture of corruption in the service.

Infact, government should act to completely ban the collection of traffic fines by police officers from the road sides because this has only helped swell the corruption. Fines and fees should instead be paid at the point renewal of licenses and certificates in the case of authorized road users and at the designated offices in that of the unlicensed ones.

What we are proposing is no rocket science because a system is already in place to curb the collection of fines on the roadside but it is the laxity in enforcement that is costing government to the corrupt officers.

We are therefore urging government to quickly move and work on our recommendations so that money can start flowing into the control 99 account especially now that we past the elections season where colossal

sums where obviously spent.

God Bless Zambia!!!

The author is a political and social analyst and a member of ZICA