Deogratias Munishi
Police in Dar es Salaam have been called on to adopt innovative approaches suitable to tackle motorcycle related crimes that are on the rise in the city.
The call is from opposition party Chadema’s youth wing Bavicha whose Secretary General Deogratias Munishi said instead of banning the ‘bodabodas’ from the city centre to combat the trend the police should develop new approaches to fighting the crime.
Munishi was speaking at a press conference over the weekend when he stated that:
“The reason that the government has banned bodadodas in the city centre under the pretext of them being involved in criminal acts is not plausible…we don’t agree with such reasoning,” Munishi said.
“It is true that criminal elements have been increasingly using bodabodas but we shouldn’t generalise…most drivers operating bodabodas are honest hard working Tanzanians simply trying to earn a living for themselves,” he said.
Banning them from city centres, according to Munishi, only serves to increase the financial burden they already bare and in turn creating potential for increased criminal activities as these unemployed youth seek to make ends meet, even by illegal means.
As for banning the bodabodas to reduce congestion in the busy city center, the general secretary again faulted the Dar es Salaam regional authorities arguing that it they are responsible for the traffic crowding and the bodaboda operators should not be punished for a situation they did not create.
“For failure to improve the city infrastructures in order to reduce congestion, it is the authorities who are to blame…” he argued.
“The government alleges that bodabodas create unnecessary jams in the city but it’s not true, in fact it is the bodabodas which get people through the traffic jams they don’t cause the congestion as the government would have us believe,” he said.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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