Whereas the scenario may have been similar in other parts of the country, the one above is what it felt like to drive from the Hybrid round-about to town on the Great East Road.
Traffic police officers would mount a checkpoint at the Marshlands area, near the University of Zambia. A few yards away, another group of traffic officers would be near the Munali round-about.
Going further up, before finding another checkpoint at the Zesco head office, one would have most likely passed the traffic officers with a mounted speed trap that is usually mounted in the Northmead area, near the Manda Hill foot bridge.
Now, that was not only a nightmare, but also an inconvenience to both motorists and the passengers. The road blocks on every street corner were grinding traffic to a halt, and inconveniencing citizens. Most importantly, it was becoming a breeding ground for corruption.
It was not uncommon for some corrupt officers to openly tell motorists to ‘cough up’ before being allowed to proceed.
All this, leading to the question of whether or not, the road blocks were serving their intended purpose or they had just become an easy route for some Zambia Police officers to make a quick buck.
Noticing this and barely a month in office, Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Jack Mwiimbu in what may as well be his first deed as minister, ordered that there be no road blocks mounted for the sole purpose of syphoning money from motorists when police officers are broke.
Mr Mwiimbu said only designated security check points would exist on the roads. He said government realised that the random snap traffic checkpoints were inconveniencing the motorists and traveling public.
He said: “Instead, government has emphasised to maintain the police security check points dotted across the country and also underlined motorised patrols on public roads particularly in the urban areas.”
The banning of these random traffic checkpoints was necessitated by the numerous complaints from members of the public that traffic road blocks were too many and that in several ways hampered the delivery of goods and services to the people.
“Apart from that, government also acted swiftly to address the many complaints and speculations from motorists and the general public that traffic officers were receiving bribes from motorists,” clarified Mr Mwiimbu in a response to our press query.
He states that the misconduct of motorists on public roads was one aspect that government introspected about and the idea of enhancing motorised patrols by the Zambia Police Service traffic section and the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) was recommended to deal with any erring motorists.
It is hoped that the move will mitigate misconducts on public roads. Mr Mwiimbu does not think that the move will affect government’s revenue collection in form of fines.
He states: “The fines which are collected by the traffic section of the Zambia Police Service are legally provided for under the Criminal Procedure Code Sec. 221. All the police security checkpoints and the motorised patrols of the Zambia Police traffic section are still effecting the fines on erring motorists and all those driving defective motor vehicles on public roads.”
He adds that the whole idea was to apart from reduce the inconvenience on motorists and curb on the alleged corruption by some officers, continue collecting the revenue on behalf of the government.
Mr Mwiimbu is also calling for a mindset change among motorists for carnages on the roads are to be reduced. He says investigations have shown that excessive speed is the leading cause of fatal road accidents.
“Allowing traffic snap checkpoints may help less on addressing accidents and misconduct on public roads. Government has realised that there is an urgent need to help change the mindset of most motorists through sensitisation campaigns on their part to begin to observe road signs and where possible, avoid over speeding” he states.
It is for this reason that, in order to enhance road safety, government through the Zambia Police and the RTSA intends to step up sensitisation programmes. Mr Mwiimbu further reveals that government shall soon commission the safe city project which has seen security cameras in all provincial centres and some border towns, once all the works are completed.
He says all this, is in an effort to enhance not only road safety, but also the general safety of the public. “Once commissioned, the project shall completely change the way investigations are done in Zambia, and definitely enhance the safety of our people and their property.”
As is obviously expected, this decision sits very well with the Bus and Taxi Owners Association of Zambia (BTOAZ) and also the Commuters Rights Association of Zambia (CRAZ).
BTOAZ national spokesperson Amis Daudi says bus operators were most times inconvenienced, leading to loss of revenue. He says, even with the ban on random roadblocks, motorists should comply and observe all road traffic related rules.
“Having a lot of road blocks doesn’t help things at all. It just used to consume a lot of time for the drivers. What is important is road safety and not policing,” he said.
“That way, traffic will be flowing smoothly and all vehicles with defects can always be intercepted at designated road blocks or even at some toll plazas,” he said.
With the same tone, CRAZ president Aaron Kamuti said the random checkpoints never served their intended purpose. He said most officers were using them to enrich themselves.
“We are also appealing to the Zambia Police to consider removing the checkpoint at 9 Miles. It is just causing congestion and damaging the road at that point. If they cannot take it back to Kabangwe where there is a concrete slab, let them just remove it altogether because repairing that part of the road will be expensive,” he said.
The mandate to mount road blocks by the police service is provided for under the Road Traffic Act No. 11 of 2002.
This article was also published in the Zambia Daily Mail newspaper of Tuesday June 14, 2022.
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