President has spoken let's go after bandits

POLICE have been ordered to work overtime to slam the brakes on crime. President John Magufuli issued the order in Dar es Salaam at the weekend when launching the Community Safety Initiative Programme.

He said that the force should combat criminals left, right and centre with no let up and should, indeed, bring the vice to a complete halt. He was concerned that in some cases, when junior police forces corner a bunch of criminals, their superiors interfere.

The president said that this move was foolhardy and should not prevail at all. He even threatened that next time he would order interfering superiors to go out and confront some of the most dangerous criminals who include armed bandits and poachers.

The president was especially concerned by the stark reality that armed criminals had the temerity to storm police stations, kill police officers on duty and steal government weapons.

He wondered why police officers fail to wrest weapons from bandits. A few years ago, the Police Force announced that it had succeeded in outsmarting robbers and that the canker would soon go into the annals of history.

Indeed, there was a lull in banditry as the criminals lied low. However, the morons were only taking a breather. The miscreants of the night are now busy brandishing guns and committing heinous atrocities, including murders.

This social evil, it seems, has become an incurable cancer in this country. It is this incidence that has incensed the president. The saddest part of this scenario is that not only do these psychopaths deprive their victims of their hard-earned prosperity; they also maim or kill their victims.

The current crop of armed robbers is, to say the least, ruthless, merciless and evil. Before these times, these evil forces in this country carried out their nefarious and diabolical activities at night. But now, they strike in broad daylight, even during the rush hours.

The police have been given the mandate to protect citizens from criminality. If the police, with close support from the ‘wananchi’, take this fight very seriously they can win. If roped in, the people can help out in the war against banditry. Bandits and other gun totters live in homes where it is difficult to hide their activities.

What the Police Force should do is mobilise Good Samaritans to show its agents where illegal gun holders are located and if possible, where they hide their arms. The force must do its job meticulously what come may.

What boggles the mind, however, is the nettling reality that in some isolated cases, few police officers or those in the rank and file, collude with armed bandits and commit atrocities in partnership.

This is in itself, is a crime that smells to high heavens. Police officers who are caught helping armed bandits to commit heinous crimes should be apprehended and arraigned. It is unthinkable that the police, who must protect civilians, should turn on them