Date Of Article: 3/31/2003
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Police, public discuss security
By: Gedion Munthali
Southern Region community policing vice chairman Fred Sawasawa on Friday challenged the public to understand and support the community policing programme because everyone has a duty to preserve the security of the country. “The security of the Malawi nation lies in the hands of all of us,” Sawasawa said during a regional executive committee meeting in Blantyre. But Sawasawa, addressing a meeting attended by police officers and members of the general public, deplored the practice by some police stations to divert community policing funds to their operations. He observed that this tendency creates problems which hamper progress in community policing activities and called for transparency in handling of the funds. Sawasawa, who is also Luchenza Town Assembly chairman, also advised the leaders of the community policing groups to ensure that they recruit people with good manners for credibility of the whole programme. In an apparent direct response to Sawasawa’s concern on misuse of funds, deputy commissioner of police (South) Finley Binali warned police officers that diverting community policing funds is tantamount to mismanagement. “Community policing funds must be used for that purpose alone and any station that diverts the funds risks losing donor-funding for this project,” he said. Binali also acknowledged the public’s concerns of lack of resources, notably transport in police stations, and said this problem is set to be alleviated in a month’s time following acquisition of a new police fleet. Reports presented to the meeting by police stations from the Southern Region indicated good cooperation with the public and a “slight drop” in crime and Binali said the goal should be total reduction of crime in the country. He noted that a high crime rate scares away investors. Community policing course facilitator Darlingtone Akambadi of Chancellor College emphasised the need for standardised plan of action for all police stations and community policing groups.
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