According to Assistant Police Commissioner Andrew Phiri the police arrested scores of drivers under the influence of alcohol. This is pathetic from a man occupying such a high office — accidents are/were not only caused by drunken drivers.
According to Phiri’s analysis accidents are caused only by drunken drivers. What about the poor state of some of the vehicles involved in the accidents, poor working conditions of commuter omnibus drivers, unlicensed youthful drivers, the use of drugs by some of the drivers, corruption on the part of the police who allow some drivers to break road regulations willy-nilly and the appalling state of our roads? All these contributed towards the high toll of accidents and deaths.
The Assistant Police Commissioner’s efforts would have yielded better results if he had avoided dabbling in politics at the expense of his police duties.Law and order in this country has totally broken down because the entire police force is now completely enmeshed in politics, a situation which could take decades to reverse.
Law enforcers are now being used to harass, intimidate and persecute everybody, including some of our legislators and the judiciary on behalf of Zanu PF. How then can we expect the country to progress under these circumstances?
Admittedly, not everything done by the police has been bad but the good has been overshadowed by bad things such as disobeying court orders, not arresting corrupt government officials, condoning violence among those guilty of making the country ungovernable among other things.
The law enforcers’ children are just like any other children in the country. Do they (enforcers) wish their children to inherit a failed state? As custodians of the rule of law, the police should not involve themselves in politics.
F Mhlanga, Masvingo.
