Q & A

‘Crime fight needs increased cooperation’

Last week, George Kainja was appointed Southern Region commissioner of police. In this interview with ALBERT SHARRA, Kainja speaks about his views on crime and security in the region, and how he plans to tackle the challenge.

Q: Please share with us your background. Who is George Kainja?          

Kainja: We intended to improve relations with the public
Kainja: We intended to improve relations with the public

A: George Kainja is a married man and commissioner of police for the Southern Region. I was born on 17th May 1967 in Dowa, where I come from. I did my primary school in Mzuzu (St Peters Primary) and Zomba (Domasi Demonstration School) and later went to Dowa Secondary School in 1984. In 1988, I got selected to study Bachelor of Education Science majoring in industrial chemistry and education at Chancellor College, a constituent college of the University of Malawi. After graduating in 1992, I taught at Umbwi Secondary School, Bembeke TTC, and Likuni Boys and Police secondary schools. I Joined the Malawi Police Service in August 1993 and since then I have worked in a number of police fields which are, but not limited to general duties, intelligence, investigations, general administration, service administration, community policing and research and planning.

I currently hold a Doctorate Degree in Strategic Management from Colombia Commonwealth University (2011), a Masters degree conferred by the Eastern and Southern Africa Management Institute (Esami) in conjunction with Maastricht School of Business (2005).  I am a visiting Senior Lecturer of Criminology, Arms Control and Public Safety and Security at Mzuzu University at the Center for Security Studies and also an Associate Consultant of Esami where I supervise MBA student’s dissertations, among other assignments.

 

Q: How did you welcome your appointment?

A  :  Being appointed as commissioner of police is an honour at the same time a great achievement as the Southern Region is a complex region in terms of geographical size, policing population, crime rate and span of control as it has more than 3 000 police officers. Upon being appointed, my concern was whether I could carry out the job of a commissioner of police well enough to convince the nation that my appointment was the right move. However, this appointment demonstrates the trust which the appointing authority has in me. The appointment empowered me to dedicate myself even more to combating crime and promoting police discipline.

Q: You are now leading the security team for the region. What are your plans in terms of crime prevention, orderliness and security?

A  :  I see fighting crime in the Southern Region from two schools of thought that are; the Systems School and the so-called Pentagon Approach. Firstly, Southern Region will be considered as a system comprising vital elements such as the courts, the business sector, the prisons, the immigration, the media, the civil society, the military and the community in general. Therefore, among these elements there should be increased coordination, inter-operability, interdependence and appreciation of each other’s roles so as to create a formidable front in the fight against crime. The Pentagon Approach will give a particular focus on five areas which are crime management, traffic management, performance management, discipline and leadership management and lastly fostering better relations with our Mozambican counterparts. Particular focus will be given to actions that will make the police proactive in reducing the fear of crime, road carnage as well as scaling down violent crimes. These actions will include increasing uniformed police officers’ visibility in the region. Malawi-Mozambique relations have been targeted because it has been observed that there is an increased flow of cross-border crimes. Therefore, there is a need to curb this malpractice through conducting district and regional bilateral security meetings and carrying out joint patrols of the common borders.

Q: What is your assessment on the quality of the police response over the years?

A  :  I have been in the Malawi Police Service for over 21 years now and in all these years, the emphasis has always been on rendering a swift, rapid and dependable police service to our customers. In my view, however, police has sometimes not been able to live up to customers’ expectations in that we have offered slow response to calls that required urgency due to mobility challenges, among other things.  You may wish to be informed that currently, we have revamped our 990 and 997 Rapid Response Systems through the allocation of a new motor vehicle fleet in urban areas. It is expected that this will tremendously improve our response to calls of emergencies.

Q: You once headed the community policing services branch which led to formation of many neighbourhood security groups. Do you have any plans on community policing in the region?

A  :  Let me start by agreeing with you that it is indeed true that at one time (2009 to 2012), I headed the community policing services branch. During that time community policing was a household name and structures were erected and vibrant in many strategic places making the Malawi Police more proactive in the prevention and  fight against crime.  Last week I had an opportunity to visit three police stations in the region and observations  made are in agreement  that community policing activities have gone down and most structures  such as Station Executive Committees (SEC) and Community Policing Forums (CPF) have collapsed and are non functional. Therefore my plan is to ensure that there is leadership and commitment  at all levels to ensure that community policing activities are fully supported and community policing groups are resurrected and fully motivated through regular meetings,  recognition, supply of working equipment among other things. We intend to introduce a floating trophy for the Best community policing group of the month and year initiative to spur a spirit of competition and to standardise community policing in the region.

Q: The police service is losing its trust because most times police officers are found in robbery syndicates (for instance, the FMB robbery). From your knowledge, what do you think influences police officers to be part of the gangs?

A  :  Let me start by informing Malawians that the Malawi Police Service through its Research and Planning Directorate will be carrying out research to find out and substantiate the factors influencing some police officers to indulge in criminal acts and joining criminal groups. From a theoretical perspective, I am of the view that factors that influence police officers to commit crimes are not different from factors influencing some ordinary Malawians to commit crime. Research in Malawi has revealed that most crimes are committed out of need such that most crimes are Crimes of Need.  Therefore, factors such as rational choice, Trait and other psycho-socio and bio-perspectives causes cannot be ruled out as being at the centre of influencing some police officers to commit crime. For this reason, there is urgent need to improve our recruitment processes so that only people of high integrity are considered for police work. It is high time we embarked on rigorous vetting procedures that include psycho-metric tests, among others, to recruit individuals that are compatible with police work.

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