Despite the song that the police are a part of Malawians and a friend, the song is hardly felt on the ground.
Phalombe district Police officers demand money from suspects for them to be given bail though police bail is free.
A suspect who opted for anonymity told this publication that for him to be granted bail, one of the Police officers at Phalombe Police Station (name withheld) told him to pay K10,000.
However, the suspect said that he pleaded with the officer regarding that he had spent three days in custody and all his businesses had stopped and would only manage to pay Mk6000 of which the officer agreed.
“The officer told me the bail guidelines saying a suspect has to pay Mk10,000 for him/her to be given bail and considering that I had spent over two days while in the cell without doing my usual business I told him that I had only Mk6000 of which he accepted without hesitating,” he said.
The man added that he wondered why he was not issued with receipt for the payment made but he was afraid to ask for it fearing that he would be sent back into the cell and his bail would be revoked.
When asked to respond, Phalombe Police Spokesperson Innocent Moses said the police bail is free and any officer found demanding money is committing a crime.
“Police bail is for free disregarding the nature of the case and any officer demanding money is committing a crime whose charge is abuse of office,” he said.
The Police spokesperson added by advising the general public that whenever they are demanded to pay money for bail they should report such officer to the office of the officer in-charge (OC).
“It’s our plea to the general public that if it happens that they land in a similar situation they should never hesitate but report such kind of officer to the OC because that isn’t acceptable and it dents image of our police,” concluded Moses.
