Are There Any Lasting Solutions to Africa’s Policing Problem?

What is more common is the use of excessive force, wanton corruption, random abuses of power and even allegations that police officers engage in criminal activities. Almost half of the report's respondents believe most or all police officers are corrupt, while nearly 40 percent said the police use unnecessarily excessive force to quell civil dissent. Perhaps these numbers are even modest, considering the many, many instances of police being aggressive towards unarmed civilians and thecountless number of police-related horror stories shared online.

As with many problems that apply across multiple African countries, horrible policingcan easily be traced to colonialism. "Policing was primarily to maintain law and order; it's not about being nice to citizens. It was about enforcing any law that the governments of the day have established," Ovigwe Eguegu, a policy analyst at Development Reimagined, tells OkayAfrica.

Many police forces were created by colonial governments, who used them as tools to protect and advance their interests. That often meant directing officers to mete out violence to their fellow Africans. For example, the1949 Iva Valley massacre in the Nigerian Southeastern city of Enugu, where unarmed, striking workers in a coal mine were attacked violently with guns by police officers because they demanded better wages and working conditions.

Across Africa, colonial governments used the police to commit heinous crimes, something that goes on to date. Inn most African countries, the political elite have simply taken over from their colonial predecessors, lording over citizens,shunning modesty in favor of ruinous looting of economic resources, and using force to protect and advance their interests.

"[These days, the police] often serve political reasons," says Eguegu, "because, the way the police are structured in some African countries, the inspector-general or head of police is appointed by the president, and the appointee then uses the police in a way to sort of conserve the interests of the government."

This mode of operation gives police officers in many African countries undue and unchecked powers. From Nigeria and Ghana to Kenya and Uganda, there have beenprotests against police brutality during this decade, and those demonstrations have been met with violent force by these same police officers.

In Nigeria,during the EndSARS protests, one of the demands from campaigners was for better salaries and welfare for police officers. The rationale behind this request was that improved compensation would help reduce the tendency for officers to accept bribes and misuse their power. "Many people will say, 'Oh, we don't pay police officers enough,' right? But that's not an excuse," Eguegu says. "If someone has integrity, no matter the salary, they will not do wrong. If you use that circumstance to justify corruption, then you're no different from thieves that can use the same thing to justify their crimes."

Rwanda and South Africa, from Egugegu's personal experience, are two countries with competent police forces in relation to other African countries. Rwanda, especially, might be the model. "Even though the country is criticized for having a [somewhat] dictatorial leader, there's discipline in the police force, and it shows that they have very high standards, from how they are dressed to how they carry themselves. A policeman who is well dressed and comports himself well is a huge indicator that he's diligent at his job. It may not always be the case, but you can use that as a focus point."

Concerning appearance, except when they're in a special uniform and riot gear to brutalize unarmed civilians, it's very common to see police officers in African countries with faded, terrible-looking uniforms. InNigeria,Kenya andZimbabwe, police officers have complained of buying their uniforms despitehuge allocations to this particular need. The assumption is that the funds are embezzled, which places the problem of corruption and lack of integrity in African policing within the broader context of corruption and lack of integrity in African leadership.

"[The state of policing in a country] is representative of the level of societal decorum because it's garbage in, garbage out," Eguegu says. While there's an obvious need for better welfare provision, as well as legislative reviews of how police officers operate, what's more fundamental is a deep reorientation. For many police officers, they view their jobs as wielding power rather than bearing responsibility – the same thing can be said for African leaders and other civil servants.

"There's a popular saying that a country cannot develop above its level of education," Eguegu states, adding that recruits to the police force often mirror the, "quality of education of the general populace." Without better ground-up education that will lead to a better, more wholesome society and the rehabilitation of current police officers that leads to a change in perspective, there's little hope for lasting solutions to Africa's policing problem.