CROOKED OFFICERS GIVING POLICE FORCE A BAD NAME
What you need to know:
- It is thus not surprising that many Tanzanians view the Police Force with suspicion instead of regarding it as a partner that is there to protect law-abiding citizens and their property.
Following concerns voiced by the ruling CCM earlier this year, the government, through Home Affairs minister Hamad Masauni, publicly pledged to rid the Police Force of criminal elements.
No public update has been issued so far, but Tanzanians hope that the government is walking the talk because rotten apples within the Police Force have been impeding efforts to check crime for many years.
Examples of dubious conduct by members of the Police Force abound.
It is thus not surprising that many Tanzanians view the Police Force with suspicion instead of regarding it as a partner that is there to protect law-abiding citizens and their property.
We believe that the vast majority of police officers are honest people who strictly adhere to the police code of conduct and ethics.
However, there is no denying that there are some police officers who are directly involved in crime, while others knowingly abet criminality by turning a blind eye to crime and its perpetrators.
There have been cases whereby the names of informers have been passed on to criminals who then plot to eliminate them. This explains why people in some areas have been hesitant to provide information about crime in their areas.
Other officers take no action whatsoever when crime is reported to them because they work in cahoots with the perpetrators. They know that the perpetrators are their partners in crime.
It all shows that the Police Force needs urgent cleaning-up if the people’s confidence in this very important state security agency is to be restored.
The government’s admission that the problem exists is a good start that should go a long way in cleaning up the Police Force and making it more effective in fighting crime and maintaining law and order.
Inspector General of Police Simon Sirro should use the powers bestowed upon him to root out criminal elements that have been giving the Police Force a bad name.
NO SUCH THING AS FREE MONEY
Will people ever learn? That is the question which inevitably comes to the fore following reports that Ponzi schemes are still alive and kicking in Tanzania despite thousands of people losing billions in life savings over the years.
In developing countries such as Tanzania, where awareness of Ponzi schemes and similar frauds is still low, people tend to be drawn to dubious money schemes like moths are attracted to light. The main incentive is quick and unrealistically high returns to the first investors from money invested by later investors.
However, what most people are ignorant of is the fact that Ponzi schemes by their very nature are not sustainable, and are bound to collapse at some point or another, with the loss of investors’ money.
Tanzanians need to know that there is no such thing as free money, which is essentially what Ponzi schemes promise. When the offer is too good to be true, one should simply walk away. It could save them a lot of grief in the end.
