Africa-Press – Tanzania. PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa has thrown more weight on President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s directive for the police force to speed up criminal investigations in ensuring timely delivery of justice.
The President issued the orders recently, while opening the Senior Police Officers Conference 2021 held in Dar es Salaam.
The Head of State had criticized the time taken by the police to complete their investigation, to pave the way for the case to move to the next step in the dispensation of justice.
“Delaying investigation adds burden to the government, therefore, for the cases that you cannot complete investigations, you should release the detainees,” noted President Samia.
She revealed that by August 22 this year, the number of remand prisoners stood at 15,194 and 16,542 prisoners. The former includes those who stayed there for a week, a month, a year and so on.
And, while inaugurating the office building of the Singida Regional Police Commander and the Head of the Regional Field Force Unit (FFU) worth over 1.3bn/- yesterday, Mr Majaliwa maintained the government position, urging them to observe professionalism and strengthen their systems when probing such cases.
The PM said the force should collaborate with other organs to overcome any delays as well as reduce congestion in the country’s prisons.
“I call upon the police force to continue strengthening their security and defence systems in order to build a system of identifying, reporting and taking precautionary measures against emerging security and safety threats in their respective areas,” said Mr Majaliwa.
The Premier also advised the police force to collaborate with foreign security and defence organs and the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) in containing and dealing with any criminal and transnational threats like terrorism, cybercrime, piracy, money laundering, human trafficking, drugs and poaching.
On the other hand, Mr Majaliwa expressed satisfaction over the construction of the office building of the Singida RPC and the Head of the Regional Field Force Unit (FFU), citing that its execution has saved huge sums of government funds.
He, equally, expressed the commitment of the government to continue strengthening the infrastructure of the country’s security and defence organs.
“I applaud the project supervisors for making sure that its execution reflects the value for money and it’s completed as per the set schedule.
“We have been informed here that the project was implemented through the force account from February 20 to July 15, this year at a cost of over 1.3bn/- instead of the 1.9bn/- identified by the consultant,” stated the PM.
As such, the Premier urged other public institutions to emulate the similar practice which has been set by the police force.
He added: “The execution of projects which are being undertaken by using Force Accounts, if well managed as per the given law, procedures and guidelines end up yielding positive results.”
On his part, the Deputy Home Affairs Minister, Mr Khamis Hamza Chilo, pledged to keenly supervise the execution of the law, while ensuring the safety and security of all citizens and their properties is enhanced.
He cautioned any individual who plans to engage in unlawful practices to immediately refrain; otherwise they should brace themselves for tough measures.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Simon Sirro disclosed that the implementation of the project took about five months, identifying that the building comprises two storeys, 30 offices and two conference rooms.
