Apology only not enough
We would like to commend the Malawi Police Service (MPS) for coming to their senses and saying sorry for assaulting two Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS) reporters who were covering a joint sweeping exercise by Mzuzu City Council rangers and police to flush out vendors from the streets of Mzuzu last week.
What the police officers did is, to say the least, barbaric and does not deserve any space in modern day democracy.
By apologising for the wrong things done by a few naughty junior officers in Mzuzu, MPS has demonstrated that it, too, does not tolerate acts of violence of any kind.
However, we believe apologising only is not enough in a country which is governed by the rule of law.
It is common knowledge that by harassing the two innocent reporters on duty, the ill-disciplined police officers committed a crime and that, just like any ordinary Malawian, they too must face the consequences.
We believe there will never be a better time for the law enforcers to send a strong signal that there is no place in the service for hooligans.
Such acts of violence by excited officers have the capacity of denting the images of senior, professional officers in the service who have worked their whole lives to safeguard the image of the police.
Even their Commander-in-Chief, President Peter Mutharika, cannot tolerate such kind of nonsense.
We are encouraged to hear that MPS is investigating the matter and that the bad apples involved in this incident will be dealt with accordingly.
We, however, appeal for urgency in the investigations so that this issue does not drag for weeks.
It is our prayer that the perpetrators of the Mzuzu assault will not just be transferred as has been the case with many other naughty police officers.
We are confident that MPS management will not humiliate the citizenry again this time around by coming up with another horrible verdict on a straightforward case like this one.
We respect police management and we pray that they deal with the problem of naughty police officers once and for all.
After all, who benefits from a violent police service?
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