Following the “battle” that reportedly lasted for more than six hours the social media was replete with narrations of what had happened at the scene of the so-called battle.
The social media reported that among the victims was the head of the anti-armed robbery unit, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Thomas Njiku, the man described as a no-nonsense crime-buster.
The reports also indicated that about 14 of the armed bandits were shot dead by “our men in combat.”
The fact that the police did not hasten to brief the media on what had transpired on that particular day was understandable. One reason could be that the police were busy with the operation and two, enough time was needed for reconciling the number of casualties.
Commissioner of Police (CP) Simon Sirro, the Dar es Salaam special zone police commander, who was among senior police officers who rushed to the scene of the incident, promised to hold a news conference the following day to explain what had transpired.
But on Saturday, August 27 CP Sirro only said that a “number of people had been killed in the operation.” He went on saying that an 80-strong team of police officers had been dispatched to Vikindu to beef up the operation, promising to give a detailed explanation on the following Tuesday, August 30. The date came and CP Sirro was nowhere to be seen.
It goes without saying that members of the public are entitled to know what happened at Vikindu. That information is not a privilege, but right.
It is worrying and raising hard questions as to why the police are not explaining about what had happened at Vikindu, a week after the incident.
Apart from raising questions, all kinds of rumours are now flying from Vikindu with some indicating that the number of casualties was exaggerated and others indicating that the so called bandits were actually terrorists.
Some of the rumours indicate that some of the arrested suspects were retired trained snipers with the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF).
To dispel these rumours and others that are likely to come the police should come out and explain what had happened. Continued silence does not augur well.
The police should indeed be seen undergoing transformation of its force with a view to making it people-centred and user friendly.
Indeed, it is good to hear that the June 2016-June 2019 transformation programme supported by various stakeholders, including the private sector, will make the force “user friendly and the most efficient south of the Sahara”.
We hope and pray that this programme becomes successful taking into account that the previous 10-year (2006-2014) similar programme aimed at reforming the force was not successful enough.
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