Mwema to quit in December

Dar es Salaam. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Said Mwema, 60, will step down in December, we can authoritatively report.

Mr Mwema, who was expected to remain in office until after the 2015 General Election, has turned down the offer of a two-year contract, opting instead for just six months.

Impeccable police sources confided to The Citizen on Saturday that the IGP agreed to extend his stay to December despite a state request that he works another two years.

Mr Mwema, who was headhunted from Interpol seven years ago to lead the police force, was officially due for retirement last month but State House reportedly asked him to consider a long contract.

When he finally quits, the curtains will fall on an illustrious career spanning 30 years, during which Mr Mwema rose from a 22-year-old constable in 1976 to the apex of the police hierarchy.

The new development could trigger sweeping changes in the police top brass in the next few months.

The search for Mr Mwema’s successor is reportedly on. “What I know is that the one who will succeed Mwema has already been tipped,” said our confidant.

Insiders say he has been under a great deal of pressure in recent months from his boss, President Jakaya Kikwete, who plucked him from Interpol’s regional office in Nairobi and made him his administration’s first IGP.

In 2006, the President gave Mr Mwema the leeway to reform the tainted police force whose reputation had plummeted because of rampant crime, corruption and general apathy.

In Nairobi, he was praised for addressing crimes in eastern Africa such as trafficking in human beings, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, cattle rustling and poaching. Given his relatively good performance as IGP, those close to the presidency felt that Mr Mwema would go the distance with Mr Kikwete, whose second and final term ends in 2015. Mr Mwema’s signature achievement has been the community policing programme.

But the IGP has in recent months come under attack from activists and the opposition for alleged human rights violations by the men in uniform, including the killing and torture of innocent civilians.

The police top brass have also been accused of political meddling and fomenting violence by openly siding with the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi. Mr Mwema was unavailable for comment on these accusations.

Head of the Directorate of Communication at State House Salva Rweyemamu said yesterday, he needed time to crosscheck the information. He cautioned against publishing such information on the grounds that it could trigger unnecessary public anxiety.

Meanwhile, three other top police officers who qualified for mandatory retirement at 60 on June 31 are angling for an extension of their contracts. They include Director of Criminal Investigation (DCI) Robert Manumba, the commander of Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone, Mr Suleiman Kova, and Commissioner of Police Isaya Mungulu.

Mr Kova will stay on under a two-year contract. He told The Citizen on Saturday: “It is not a strange thing. It is just a normal arrangement. I don’t see it as a story but I advise you to use administrative channels to get the information you want. My employer will answer your questions.”

DCI Manumba’s case remains unclear as he is still in office in the same capacity. When asked for comment, he responded curtly that the information was not true and cut off the call. Both Mr Mwema and Mr Manumba were 53 when they were first appointed in March 2006.

In April this year, President Kikwete awarded the two men the Distinguished Service Medal for their “diligent performance and exemplary conduct”.