Tanzania: Traffic Police advised to focus on educating road users

What you need to know:

  • Parliamentary committee on foreign Affairs, Defense and Security calls on traffic police to focus on education instead of thinking of raising revenue from fines and penalties.

Dodoma. Police Force is set to collect Sh118.3 billion in fines and penalties from traffic offenses in the next financial year.

This was said on Wednesday, April 24 by Morogoro South MP Prosper Mbena (CCM) on behalf of the chairman of the Parliamentary committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Security, Mr Azzan Zungu.

“The sum is an estimation of 3.1 million road traffic offenses expected to be committed by road users,” noted Mr Mbena.  

He called on Police Force to focus on education instead of thinking of raising revenue from such fines and penalties.

Mr Mbena said one of the Police Force’s responsibilities is to provide road users with the required education, before punishing them. 

“Traffic offenses sometimes cost people’s lives. Fines and Penalties are not the right approach to address the problem. Police need to rethink this model,” Mr Mbena stressed.

Meanwhile, Mr Mbena said delay in disbursement of allocated fund for Police Force adversely affected its operations and efficiency.

“If we are to increase efficiency of the Police Force in protecting people and their belongings, it is high time the government disbursed money allocated to the force in time,” opined Mr Mbene.

Home Affairs minister Kangi Lugola on Wednesday requested the Parliament to endorse the 2019/20 fiscal year budget proposal of Sh921.2 billion for the ministry.

Mr Lugola said, out of the money, some Sh889.3 billion was meant for recurrent expenditures, with the rest being for development projects.