Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican Interior Minister Paulo Chachine on Wednesday ordered the traffic police to strengthen their discipline, fight against corruption, and comply strictly with the law, in order to reduce the number of accidents on the country’s roads.
Speaking at a ceremony in the riot police barracks in Maputo, Chachine stressed how serious traffic accidents have become and the duty of the police to save lives. In the month of August alone, 87 people had died in 48 traffic accidents. Chachine said that most of these happened at night, or involved vehicles that were overcrowded or unlicensed.
Heavy goods vehicles and public transport buses are not allowed on the roads between the hours of 21.00 and 05.00 the following morning. Police checkpoints on the main roads should stop these vehicles from travelling at night, but in many cases, they are simply waved through.
“It is our responsibility when we let vehicles drive on the roads, after the legally established times, or when the drivers do not possess the correct driving licence”, said Chachine.
The Minister denounced negligence and corruption within the traffic police, including the payment of bribes to allow irregular vehicles to pass through checkpoints. Corruption “stains the image of the police”, he stressed.
“When we take money to allow an irregular vehicle to pass through a checkpoint, the bread purchased with the bribe tastes of the victims’ blood”, Chachine accused.
The job of the police was not just to fine motorists, he said, but also to educate them about road safety matters, in order to save lives.
Chachine urged members of the traffic police to honour the oath they had taken, and to guarantee order, tranquillity and the free circulation of people and goods. “Each of you should educate your colleagues to remove practices which bring shame to the institution”, he said.
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