YALI fears hike of fees charged by ZP will encourage graft

Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Governance Advisor Isaac Mwanza says the move by the Zambia Police to hike all fees and fines will only encourage traffic Police officers and motorists to engage in corruption.

Mr Mwanza says the Ministry of Finance should have waited until mechanisms are put in place to ensure the money realized from the fines and fees reaches the treasury.

He notes that the current enforcement of the traffic regulations by the traffic Police officers is in violation of the law as vehicles are impounded even for infractions that do not require vehicles to be impounded.

He states that traffic officers impound vehicles to force motorists to pay on the spot which encourages corruption.

Mr. Mwanza says Zambia needs a surveillance system which will monitor the activities of traffic officers on the road without causing unnecessarily inconvenience to commerce passengers or other road users.