Malawi police decision of allowing the traffic offices to be carrying rifles when on duty posts has brought debates and confusions on many Malawians in the country.
This has been discovered by the reporter of the story when she had several interviews with citizens within the southern region.
According to David Wayison, Chiradzulu resident said the decision by the police is a welcomed idea since it is going to help them in terms of protection whenever they are on the posts.
“I think the decision is good because the offices are going to be protected, think of the incident that occurred last month whereby a driver almost hit the traffic officer and he could not stop but continued with his journey,” said Wayison.
Mwayiwawo Makani, Mulanje-Midima minibus driver said the decision only shows how weak the police is in the country since they want to use weapons when on duty as if they are going for war.
“The decision is poorly timing because they cannot be using the guns when there is poor relationship between the traffic police and the people for example some of the offices on the roads demands a lot of money from the drivers even if there is no offence and to run from that that is why the traffic offices are been beaten or hitted by the cars,” Makani explained.
He added that they should fix the relationship between the offices and the people instead of using the rifles on the roads.
A Zomba-Liwonde- Mangochi driver, Kenneth Mughogho concurred with Makani by saying the decision will make people to be afraid on the roads because some of the offices use their power in a wrong way as a result they will be using the guns whenever they have misunderstandings with the drivers on the roads.
“This decision is going to bring advantage to the unprofessional officers on the roads to continue with their malpractice of demanding money from the drivers and corruption will not come to an end in this country,” Mughogho said.
However Hurry Namwanza, secretary for the police pointed out that the decision was meant for the police officers not the public and it is for the betterment of the traffic officers.
