The Inspector General (IG) of Malawi Police Service Merlyne Yolamu has bemoaned mobility challenges that have greatly affected operations in the service saying the department is operating with only 445 vehicles instead of the required 1, 200.

She made the remarks at Limbe police training school in Blantyre on Tuesday during the passing out of 1, 359 new police constables who have completed their eight months training from three police training schools of Mtakataka in Dedza, Mlangeni in Ntcheu and Limbe in Blantyre.

She said the issue of inadequate vehicles has also crippled its operations mainly in dealing with cases of mob justice and human trafficking that are on the rise in the country.

“We have witnessed members of community taking the law into their own hands by killing suspected people and some of the reasons for this uncalled behavior is because our police officer fails to reach at the scene in time due to mobility challenges.

“In addition, the task of dealing with human trafficking mostly requires transportation for border patrols,” said Yolamu.

The IG has further asked government to fast-track the approval of regulations that were already drafted which among others aimed at motivating junior police officers with incentives such as provision of water, electricity and risk allowances.

Homeland Security Minister Jean Sendeza, who presided over the ceremony, admitted that her ministry is aware of the challenge being faced in the police service.

“We are aware of the challenges including mobility and as the ministry we have an allocation in the budget to procure about 69 vehicles to be deployed at the police service, but we are also aware that this number is small due to budget constraints and as we go in parliament we will lobby for more funds,” Sendeza said.

Out of the total number of the newly recruited constables, 557 are females representing 41 percent.

The recruitment of the new constables has increased a number of police personnel in the country from 15, 142 to 16,500.