Check out our NEW online marketplace.

History of Deadly Police Violence in Africa Sets Precedent for Modern Day Atrocities

The police forces represent one of the three formal institutions in the justice system along with the judiciary, and the prison system. The police act as the government’s primary representatives in maintaining civil order and enforcing the rule of law. In return for protection from crime and disorder, citizens cede a degree of their liberty to the police. Police officers thereby are permitted the use of limited force by the government. The functions of the police include: to maintain security in a community; prevent conduct that threatens life and property; and aid those who are in danger or in need of help [1].

All new police members must abide by the laws and codes of ethics stipulated by the judiciary and legislative branches of their government. Any deviance from, or abuse of, their officially sanctioned powers, has the potential to harm those they are mandated to protect. Accordingly, the public should be aware of the limits on the power of the police. Maintaining the integrity of their role and legal limits of power is essential to ensuring the predictability and legitimacy of the police force.

The authority of the police force must be held in check by internal and external oversight and accountability measures, which are set out in law. Internal oversight operates within the police force to penalize poor practice and behavior. External oversight involves monitoring the police for corruption, lack of neutrality, and level of responsiveness to civilian demands, complaints and concerns. These external oversight mechanisms should be free from political influence and interference. The judiciary, civilian review boards, ombudsmen or other local officials, and the legislative branch of government all can perform external oversight [2]. These external review boards are the primary guarantors of police accountability to the public.

It’s well known that in Africa the police forces since their inception in the colonial period have played a very different role. The recent events following the Kenyan contested presidential elections, the protests in Cameroon against the 2008 constitutional amendments, the protests in Guinea, in Central Africa Republic and In Zimbabwe have consistently demonstrate that the Police forces in these countries are not the people allies. They do not protect the citizen but are used to oppress, to swindle, torture, and kill them in protecting the President along with his, friends, clan and political cronies.

“I gave the order to open fire myself when I heard that my officers were being overwhelmed. If we had not killed them, things would have got very bad.” These are the words of Grace Kahinde, a police chief in Kenya. She is referring to an incident on December 29th, 2007 where police opened fire on a crowd of protestors, killing 44. This unrest and violence has occurred only days after a disputed election which has been labeled by outside European observers as “deeply flawed [3].” More than one thousand people were killed in Kenya, hundreds in Cameroon and on so on…..

This kind of police violence is nothing new to Africa. There has been a long history of oppressive police forces stretching back to the mid 1800’s and British colonialism. Like in other countries the British colonized, in Nigeria, the British established an oppressive police force in 1861. This group of underpaid, underequipped men was used to settle unrest in order to keep the citizenry under the thumb of the British crown. The same role was assigned to the police forces during the colonial period in other countries. Unfortunately, as the countries moved to “independence” in the 1960s, most of the colonial institutions were transferred to hand picked groups of leaders still in power in most African States today. These institutions have help established in this continent one of the most oppressive environment on earth in the 21st century. Because the police were kept under funded, members became involved in mob-like activities, which only magnified the hatred of the people. As the years have passed, warlords and dictators have used the police in irresponsible ways. In the mid 1960’s until 1999 military dictators used the police to crush opposition movements and maintain their power [4]. When the police are not being used as puppets for dictators they are so underfunded and ill-trained that they are unable to properly enforce laws. Fear tactics are used to try and scare the public into compliance. On the beautiful beaches of Lagos, the police have been known to publicly execute thieves to be used as an example. It would appear this example has little effect, as it has been estimated that only 0.4% of stolen property in Nigeria is ever recovered [5].

In 2005 a world barometer survey concluded that the country of Cameroon had the world’s most corrupt police force, and proof of such corruption is not hard to find [6]. In October of 2007, Cameroon police shot and killed three taxi drivers that were reportedly protesting the arrest and beating of their coworker [7]. In November of that same year, two students were shot and killed by police. The students were part of a protest regarding electrical blackouts that had lasted nearly ten days. While the student protestors were becoming hostile towards the police by throwing rocks and other projectiles, the police had no right to shoot live ammunition at students protesting a lack of electrical services [8]. Hatred and resentment of the police grow with every violation of human rights or national law and the police are seen as agents of oppression even when their actions are arguably legitimate. A history of police oppression like this has set a disturbing precedent for future generations; the action of defying police orders is no surprise, especially as the police continue to respond with gunfire.

The IIJD's solution: Addressing the root causes by reforming the institutions of governance and establishing an independent Justice system.

Justice and development experts gathered at the 2006 International Conference on the State of Affairs of Africa (ICSAA) hosted by the IIJD asserted that institutional weakness and poor African leadership were the main source of African political and economic failures of the continent. “The repressive political environment and the systemic barriers to securing civil and political rights imposed by government institutions paralyze the ingenuity of the people of Africa and precipitate the decline of the continent into poverty.” [9] Further, it was found that underdevelopment “stems primarily from the fact that government institutions . . . are devoid of any legitimate participation on the part of civil society.”[10] The main tool being used by corrupt leaders to subdue their citizens is the Police. Police are deployed for punitive expeditions. Trained specifically to break strikes and suppress labor and student unrest during the colonial period, today, the police forces are mainly used by the government not to protect citizens but to stop the democratic process and prevent the expression of any civil and political rights of the People of Africa. It will be difficult to have real democracy in Africa until these institutions of the Justice system, such as police forces, are reformed.

The IIJD actively advocates for systemic reform and the creation of an institutional and legal framework that guarantee the establishment of a justice system that is internationally recognized as stable, democratic, and economically viable. Such an institutional framework provides for the growth of democracy; eradication of corruption; establish transparency and accountability within the administration and in the management of country resources or service deliveries; legal empowerment of the poor; and, sustainable development.

As for the judiciary and the prison system, the IIJD will continue to stress the importance and need for reform of the institution of police in Africa. This applies not just in Kenya, Cameroon, Guinea, Chad, Togo, and Zimbabwe, but in most parts of the continent. In order for a police force to be an effective and legitimate institution, citizens must not fear, but rather respect, their police officers. Establishing the legitimacy of the police in the minds of the people is the first and most important step in reforming the government institutions of African states. Finally, we would like to call into question the Kenyan police chief’s own words, “If we had not killed them, things would have got very bad.” The killing of demonstrators, regardless of their use of violence or not, is a sure sign of police illegitimacy, authoritarian regime, and instability in a country. How much worse could the situation have possibly gotten had the police not fired live rounds into a crowd? Clearly, it is crucial to address the issues of the police force in Africa. The development of an independent judiciary and access to a free and fair justice system represent today the most important factors in advancing democracy, protecting human rights, and assuring sustainable development. Only through the reform of these systems can we combat corruption, demand accountability, secure investments, and create an incentive for educated and capable citizens to stay and contribute to their countries' futures. The IIJD justice reform program has developed a comprehensive approach for reforming the institutions of the Justice System; and along with its experts is ready to take on the challenges of institutional reforms in Africa.

[1] Goldstein, Herman. Policing a Free Society. (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.1997). 

[2] Berkeley further provides a comprehensive examination to the question of external review bodies in The Democratic Policeman (Boston: Beacon Press, 1969).

[3] PR Inside: “Kenya police commander says she ordered shooting of protesters, says    overwhelmed by violence.” Jan. 16, 2008.

[4] Vera Institute of Justice: “Abstracts of Papers from the Global Meeting on the Use of Civilian Surveys as a Tool for Police Reform.” June, 2001.

[5] Le Monde Diplomatique: “Does Africa need the police?” Sep, 1997.

[6] The Post Online: “Cameroon Police Top World Corruption Chart” Dec 12, 2005.

[7] Reuters: “Cameroon police shoot dead 3 moped taxi riders” Oct 16, 2007.

[8] Reuters: “Cameroon police kill students in blackout protest” Nov 12, 2007.

[9] ICSAA Conference Findings, Resolutions and Recommendations p 5.