Dean, Faculty of Law
University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Focus Area(s)
Accountable Policing
Critical Tasks
External accountability
Internal accountability
Training
Interviewers
Daniel Scher
Country of Reform
Tanzania
Town/City
Dar es Salaam
Place (Building/Street)
University of Dar es Salaam
Country
Tanzania, United Republic of
Date of Interview
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Abstract
Sifuni Mchome, the dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, talks about his involvement in the country's police reform program. Together with a colleague from the university, he discusses how they embarked on rewriting the Police General Orders, which instruct the police on conduct, in order to make the orders more useful in the changing field of law enforcement. The initial document lacked operative principles, it was not up-to-date with the law, it contradicted the Bill of Rights, and it lacked clear instructions on how to conduct an arrest. Mchome also explains the challenges of implementing the reforms, which included logistical problems, limited human and financial resources, the law's lack of guidance on how police power and functions should be discharged, and the absence of a configured law enforcement system to promote intelligence-led policing through the cooperation of entities like the police force, the prisons, and the courts. Through a modernization drive, Mchome describes efforts to empower the police, to retool and to provide new techniques for dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals. An independent directorate was created under the Ministry of Home Affairs to monitor the police force and to deal with complaints collection.
Transcript
Full Interview
51MB
Sifuni Mchome Interview
Profile
At the time of this interview, Sifuni Mchome was the dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. He previously worked in the Department of Civil and Criminal Law, with a specialty in criminal justice. Mchome previously was involved in policing. He participated in a program run by the Legal Aid Committee of the Faculty of Law, University of Dar Es Salaam, which involved training police officers and prison and judicial officials.
Keywords
community policing
oversight agency
local police training
information sources
information management systems
complaint collection
Not specified