Last year, police officers were forced to make $20 contributions towards activities of a private police officers’ women club, Kuyedza, headed by Chihuri’s wife.
“PISI top officers advised Chihuri that internal intelligence had discovered that morale among the majority of police officers was at its lowest ebb, as a result of continued milking of their little but hard-earned salaries through ‘fraudulent’ and forced contributions to projects which did not directly benefit them. To end their woes, disgruntled police officers vowed to vote ‘wisely’ at the next election. This follows private media reports especially in The Zimbabwean which exposed the forced cash contributions,” said an inside police source.
“Fearing possible regime change, Chihuri panicked and dispatched a directive signal to all stations, instructing that collected contributions be refunded back to affected members as a matter of urgency. PISI made it clear to Chihuri that police officers were aware that Kuyedza Project was a voluntary scheme and it was unlawful to force anyone to force contributions towards such a venture,” added the source.
Despite the directive, no refund has been made yet, raising fears that the cash could have been misused by district and provincial responsible authorities.
Meanwhile, police officers in Mashonaland East were recently forced to contribute $5 each towards hosting of the 2012 Police Commissioner General’s Sports Gala scheduled for August in Harare. Top cops at the Police General Headquarters said that under normal circumstances, the event was sponsored from funds raised through roadblocks and other police activities.
“In fact, each police province was forced to pay a $3 000 joining fee to participate at the mandatory sports gala. The force has more than 15 administrative provinces. Besides the 10 political ones, some units such as Police Protection Unit, Support, Border Control, Tourism, Depot, Police General Headquarters are regarded as individual provinces. This has raised eyebrows,” said the source.
Post published in: News