During a police pass-out function held at the Moshi Police College in 1983, President Julius Nyerere who had officiated as guest of honour, had this to say about the role and place of the police force in the country:
That ‘as guardian of peace and security in Tanzania, the country could not compromise on police recruitment and training much as it had very little resources.’
He said the country’s police force which stood at 30,000 men and women at the time was not adequate for a country the size of Tanzania, especially if one took into account the fact that, that number was at the time London’s police force!
He said but because the country had very little resources to spend on the police force, it was important that it laid accent on the establishment of a small, but highly trained and disciplined force.
A year earlier, in November 1982, the police force under the leadership of Inspector General, Solomon Liani, had invited journalists at the police headquarters in Dar es Salaam to listen to a presentation made by a two-man team from Canadian Police Constabulary who had just completed a three-month study on the effectiveness of the Tanzanian police training.
The tall, well built Canadian police officers said after their study, they discovered that the training set aside for police officers in the country had was such that they could serve in any police force in the Commonwealth.
However, the main problem, they said, lay with members of the police force in the lowest rank whom unfortunately formed the majority of the police force.
They said these men and women who came in direct contact with the people, and in particular, criminals, were not adequately trained and equipped to deal with challenges of the day.
Their advice was that it was now extremely important for the police administration to re-direct training to the majority of its non-officers because these were the people who were crucial in sifting criminals from law-abiding citizens.
Their argument which made a lot of sense was that if the lowest rank of the police force was exposed to the right dose of training, it would reduce considerably, the number of remandees.
Since then, I have personally not heard of any attempt by our police force to engage experts from abroad to review whether or not our present police training is adequate in meeting modern challenges in maintaining peace and security in the country.
Over two decades since the founding father of this nation made such an important speech, the pertinent question Tanzanians, and in particular, members of the police force ought to be asking themselves is whether they have lived up to Mwalimu’s vision over the kind of police force he wanted this country to have.
I have raised the foregoing question following a press conference held in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, August 16th this year and addressed by the Anti-Drug Unit head, Mr Godfrey Nzowa and other officers from the unit.
While appreciating police work, especially if one considers the difficult condition under which our men and women work, but going through some of the reports carried by the media the impression some of us got from what was discussed in that press conference was very disturbing!
In a nutshell, the police said religious leaders involved in illicit drug business would sooner than later be arrested and committed to our courts of law.
Up to that point, there was nothing wrong in what the police said. However, in my opinion, the police overstepped their mandate when they started moralizing on the issue by telling the public that religious leaders were human being and that erring was human!
If you asked me to categorize the foregoing statement, I would simply tell you that the police abandoned professionalism and embarked on politicking!
One would have expected the police in that press conference to tell the public how many religious leaders had been arrested in connection with drug trafficking and their identities.
And instead, the police more or less repeated what President Jakaya Kikwete had said in Songea when he accused some religious leaders of being involved in drug trafficking!
The police would have greatly helped President Kikwete, currently under pressure from a section of religious leaders to name the culprits and bring them before the court, if they had used the press conference in doing what they are supposed to do, announce the names of the culprits and how they would be dealt with.
It is important for the police to realize that in our present multiparty setting, they would increasingly be required to be as professional as possible and steer away from temptations to play politics.
I raised the role played by the Canadian Constabulary Police earlier on in order to stress what past Tanzanian police administrations attempts to bring a modicum of professionalism in the force.
It is important for the present administration to ensure that professionalism is maintained by keeping out of politics.
By Attilio Tagalile
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