THE head of the government’s newly-established anti-narcotics body yesterday outlined his plans and strategies for the highly sensitive job at hand,
pledging to start by handing over to the Chief Justice the names of judges and magistrates who are reportedly undermining national efforts to fight the vice by mishandling cases that involve illegal drugs.
Speaking in public for the first time since his official swearing in by President John Magufuli as commissioner general of the Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) on Sunday, Rogers Sianga pledged to maintain the same tempo used by Dar es Salaam regional authorities in the latest anti-drugs crusade.
“We will show no mercy to anyone, because the effects of illicit narcotics use are there for all to see as well as the high cost it is inflicting on individual users, their families, and society at large,” Sianga told a large gathering at an event where he received a fresh dossier of suspected drug barons and kingpins from Dar es Salaam regional commissioner Paul Makonda.
According to RC Makonda, the dossier contains a total of 97 new names of people both within and outside the country. This is a third list of names of people suspected to be linked to the country’s narcotics trade, either as users, dealers or just contact persons.
The first list, released two weeks ago, contained some well-known local movie and music entertainers, while the second included a number of prominent local politicians, businessmen, and clerics.
However, Makonda this time around desisted from revealing the latest names in public, saying instead that would be the prerogative of the new DCEA boss.
Sianga, on his part, said the DCEA will approach the anti-drugs war by addressing key issues like disconnecting the demand and supply chain, and setting up effective harm reduction mechanisms.
He took time to elaborate how narcotic drugs can destroy the physical, mental and psychological health of individuals, and how they (drugs) are known to find their way into the country.
According to Sianga, some 20 tonnes of heroin were seized in the East African region last year alone. He described the situation as an alarming “wake-up call” and everybody needs to wake up to address it.
It is estimated that 10 kilogrammes of cocaine is consumed in Dar es Salaam on a daily basis.
Noting that the anti-drugs war has often been undermined by magistrates and judges mishandling related cases, he said:
“We are often surprised when someone is arrested with over 50 kilogrammes of drugs, and a judge in his ruling lets the suspect go free because he (judge) doesn’t see any wrong-doing in the case.”
The DCEA has already prepared a list of judges and magistrates suspected of such ethics-bending, and the list will be handed to the CJ for further action, Sianga said.
Earlier, delivering a progress briefing on the latest anti-drugs crackdown in the city, Dar es Salaam Special Zone police commander Simon Sirro said so far 311 people have been arrested and 544 grams of cocaine has been seized since the operation started.
He said out of a total of 67 people already named by the RC, only 32 have reported to the police for questioning. Those who haven’t turned up so far will be hunted down wherever they are, Sirro asserted.
President Magufuli recently gave the anti-drugs crusade a public thumbs-up, saying nobody will be spared regardless of public status or popularity.
He also asserted that his government won’t lift a finger to defend any Tanzanian jailed in foreign countries for drug trafficking offences. Currently there are about 68 Tanzanians on death row in China after being convicted of such offences.
The 2013 report of the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) indicates that East Africa is a major target for drug traffickers wishing to enter African markets because of its unprotected coastline, insecure seaports and airports, and porous land borders, all of which provide multiple entry and exit points.
Also attractive to international drug syndicates are inadequate customs controls and cross-border cooperation, as well as what the report describes as a weak criminal justice system.
Heroin is imported to East Africa directly from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Burma through Thailand. Much of it finds its way to South Africa, but there is also a reverse movement of drugs from South Africa to Tanzania and Kenya.
A UNODC map shows that heroin and cocaine also filter across Tanzania's borders into Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia. Some of it is shifted onwards to the United States and Western Europe.
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